A Fracture In Time
by Shadow Master
Summary: This is a Transformers/Gargoyles crossover. What would have happened in the Gargoyles universe when the Predacon Leader Megatron assasinated Optimus Prime in 'Agenda Part 3'?
1. Deviation

"A Fracture In Time" By Ryley Breen AKA Shadow Master

email : rybreen@centris.theberries.ns.ca

Disclaimer: There are very few Gargoyles characters in this but as I will reveal later Elisa Maza/Nightshade belongs to Buena Vista Television. The Autobots, Decepticons and all other things related to the cartoon 'The Transformers' are the property of Hasbro. The Maximals, Predacons and all things associated with the cartoon 'Beasties/Beast Wars' belong to Hasbro as well but also partially Mainframe Entertainment Inc. The characters Nightshade, Angelfire and Starburst belong to me and cannot be used 

without my permission. Please let me make it clear that I am in no way making a profit out of this. This fanfic was written purely for the fun of it so please don't send your lawyers after me, PLLLEEEAAASSSSEEE!!!!!

Note: This story has nothing to do with my 'Chronia' Gargoyles universe, it's just a story that popped into my head that I thought would make a pretty good fanfic. I discovered it when I watched the Beasties/Beast Wars episode 'The Agenda: Part three' and 'Optimal Situation' and wondered 'Hey! What would the Gargoyle universe be like if Optimus had been terminated?'. So I got busy thinking and this was the result. Now keep in mind that it has been years since I have seen the Transformers(G1) cartoon so the bulk of my info will be coming from sites containing Bio info on the characters and timeline. If I make any mistakes I apolagize in advance for my errors and hope that you will forgive me. Also for those of you not familiar with transformer time terminology pay attention to the following:

Nano-click = One Second

Cycle = One Minute

Mega-Cycle = One Hour

Stellar Cycle = One Day

Galactic Cycle = One Year

Be advised that this is just my educated guess as to how things may be arranged and I have no idea if this is accurate or not.

**_"A Fracture In Time"_**

Part 1: Chapter 1 

Prologue

The Ark

Those two words hold enormous significance to both the races of Cybertron and those of Earth alike but are forever unique. On Earth the Ark was a ship of biblical proportions built by Noah to save species of animals and peoples of Earth from the vengeful flood from God. For those from Cybertron it was the name of the ship which carried the last, best hope for the faction of transforming robots called the Autobots. Both ships were seen as the salvation of their kind but whereas Noah's ship cannot even be proven as ever existing the Ark of the Autobots has always been established fact. Over the years following the end of the great war between Autobot and their feudal rivals the Decepticons the Ark has drifted into the realm of myth. It is a myth that no matter how much time has passed is still revered as greatly as it had been in the beginning.

Unfortunately this is one myth that may be rendered asunder in a few moments.

Slowly, as though slowly waking from a slumber the doors to the bridge of the Ark open and admit the conductor of this dirge of death. When looking at him one might not think that he presented much of a threat to the giants surrounding him. Alas the giants still slumber in emergency stasis, unaware of the intruder in their midst and unaware of what boils in his mind. Looking at his face one can almost see a resemblance between the sleeping towers of metal and the newcomer, in body and mind. Some could easily be intimidated by him and see him as a powerful force in the current of history but few could guess the scope of influence he holds. When spoken on Cybertron his name provokes the memory of a long forgotten evil that was thought to have long since vanished but now it rises again.

"Now I enter these hallowed halls, a conqueror, Yes!" Megatron declares as he enters the stage of his grand finale.

Locking his turbines into place the leader of the Predacons rises into the air and slowly glides forward to the front of the room. Stalking forth so one could see that he too moves with the predatory grace of his transmetal beast mode and is worthy of the respect given to the beast it represents. All about him lies what he considers the past, a past which stokes the fires of his hatred all the more in their presence. With the swaying of his plasma cannon one could not deduce which slumbering goliath he meant to render asunder. Mayhap all? Mayhap none but one thing that remains clear is that a great change is about to take place and he will be the one to start it all.

"Autobots and Decepticons, still trapped in emergency stasis, awaiting the moment four million years hence when they will awaken and start the great war." , said Megatron as he looks over the motionless throng below him, "Hmmmm, the great war, where the the Autobots defeat the Decepticons and thus it is their descendants the Maximals who rule we Predacons."

Suddenly a wave of rage swells through him and his purple eyes glow with their fury.

"Archaic energon guzzlers! How *dare* they!!!" Megatron yells as he swats at the scarlet arm to his right.

Slowly rising upwards now he declared "Loathe though I was to follow my namesake's instructions, it has all come down to this! The ultimate risk, for the ultimate prize! A day of reckoning, with those who made *us* slaves!!"

With a slight change of direction laterally the Predacon leader looked town at his target, a helpless hunk of metal that knew not it's fate, and sneered triumphantly. Thrusting forward he looked straight in the eye the central object of his hatred, the symbol of the benevolent Autobots that remained strong long after the original was gone.

"At last we meet face to face *Optimus* *Prime*!" , Megatron spit out in contempt and sarcasm, "In one future you awaken and become the great *leader* of the Autobots, but time shall take a different route now."

Suddenly flying away, as if to stay out of arms reach of the behemoth, Megatron came to a stop fifty feet away from his foe and aimed his weapon well. In these moments the basis of his scheme became clear and the integrity of the universe trembled and prayed.

"Computer! All available power to primary weapon!" Megatron yelled and in acknowledgement of it's master's command the amethyst plasma began to glow like a small sun as it rose in strength.

If any of the giant transformers could speak there would no doubt be a variety of statements made. From the Decepticons there would no doubt be cheers of encouragement and advice on how best to destroy the leader of their hated enemies. Perhaps the original Megatron would even smile as his plan reached fruition or maybe he would be angry that it was not he that was going to deliver the deathblow. From the Autobots though there would be screams of protest and threats galore as the transformers of goodness tried to fight the emergency stasis and rescue their leader. Unfortunately both sides would have gone unheard for this was a warlord who followed orders from no one but himself.

With his weapon coming to a steady hum Megatron yelled "For the honor of the Decepticons, for the glory of the Predacons, for the Cybertron that *is* rightfully ours and *mine* to rule, I unleash this storm of vengeance upon thee. Farewell!!!!!"

Then in a torrent of energy the ignited plasma flew forth towards the cranium of the legendary Autobot leader striking it dead center. In another time and another place this blast would have resulted in no more than a small explosion, finite in it's duration. Unfortunately this was a blast that would send echoes throughout time and space while it went about changing all that was and all that might be. Who knows what new future was being carved out by the temporal wave front? Who could predict the effect it would have on recorded history? There is no real way to know for sure because once the echo disappears the only history that exists is the history after the event.

**********************************************************************

Manhattan, U.S.A, March 29, 1997 

Getting out of Goliath's arms and stepping onto the balcony of her apartment Elisa breathed in the type of air that she thought she would never breathe again. It wasn't very different from the air she breathed while in Japan or in Prague as far as composition went but as a native New Yorker she could tell the difference. She almost smiled as she thought about how casually she said the names of all the places she had been. If she had said that to anyone outside of the clan they would think she were crazy or in serious need of a vacation.

Ugghhh! I think I've had enough vacation time to last me 'til next year! she thought to herself as she opened the window to her living room and dropped Cagney in.

"We could not have survived our odyssey without your help." Goliath said as he took her hands in his. 

"Hey it was fun, most of the time!" , Elisa remarked as she turned to look at Cagney walking around the living room, "But there really is no place like home. It was really nice of Broadway and Hudson to look after him while I was gone."

"The clan will always be there for you, *I* will always be there for you." Goliath stated as he looked at her with wistful eyes.

"I know." Elisa said as she looked back at him with equal wishfulness.

"If only we were...." Goliath began but Elisa stopped him by putting a gentle hand on his chest.

Elisa began to open her mouth to console the gargoyle who had been her friend for so long when suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a wall of bright eldritch light appeared and began to sweep across the land towards them. For a moment Elisa's mind stalled as she tried to comprehend what was going on around her. The wind was picking up to almost typhoon levels, to the point where even the sounds of the city were drowned out, and the rain pelted against her skin like needles. Looking to Goliath in the hopes of some comfort she saw that he too was finding it hard to come to grips with what was happening before him. Had some nut case set off a nuke nearby and this was the shockwave reaching them? Was Demona back at her genocidal ways? She desperately wanted this to be the case but somehow she knew it wasn't any of the scenarios she could think of. As the wall got closer and closer she pressed herself against Goliath's chest, as if his body alone would protect her as it had done so often in 

the past.

Right then and there both of them knew that this would be the end of something, whether it be just Manhattan or of everything it would change just the same. With their final moments upon them all inhibitions left them and they looked to each other to express what they had been forced to repress during the past couple of weeks. Sadly they would not get the chance for just as they opened their mouths to speak the wave hit and all they knew was rendered unto nothingness.

**_Zone Alpha 15, former continent of North America_**

**_Year 13 of Decepticon Occupation of Earth_**

For a moment the warrior did not know what was going on nor what had happened in the intervening moments since knowing and not knowing. All about her explosions roared through the air, red hot light streaked through the air and vehicles of all sorts went by either by air or land. A field of buildings were laid out across the land ahead but you could tell right away to which race it belonged but then it wasn't that hard. In roughly over a decade all the buildings made by man had been destroyed and what took it's place were merely symbols of oppression. The malevolent forces of the Decepticons from Cybertron had destroyed everything to make room for their energon refineries and military bases. The human race was no longer the dominant species of the planet but was instead reduced to simply insignificant slaves, expendable and without any rights at all. For a moment the warrior's mind screamed that this was not right, not how it was supposed to be and for a moment the warrior struggled to find out what was going on.

Unfortunately she wasn't given a chance.

With significant force she was tackled to the ground mere moments before three white laser blasts streaked through the air where she had been standing. For a moment she fought with the person who had taken her to the ground but as she moved she could tell that it wasn't only the world that seemed different. Her senses seemed crisper, more efficient than she seemed to recall them being and her sense of touch was sharp as well but dull at the same time. Looking to her right she saw who had knocked her down and received another shock when her savior was revealed to be a female robot. She didn't at all look like the kind of robot you see in most movies where they look virtually human or completely alien, the warrior looking back at her looked more like chiseled stone. The robot's body had your basic human female look to it but looked like it had been made with spare parts from an automobile. The robot was primarily a yellow golden color with white thrown on the arms, legs, midriff and face. While there were no actual seams she had what looked like a golden helmet on with a cross hairs in front of one eye.

Then the moment passed and the robot said crossly "What's the matter with you Nightshade!? You would've been slagged if I hadn't knocked you out of the way in time!!"

With that single word, that name 'Nightshade', all of her doubts and concerns vanished in the blink of an eye and in it's place her memories returned. It was as if her mind, her identity had been momentarily separated from her body and a stranger had been put in it's place. Shaking her head she got into a crouch stance behind some debris and pulled her twin particle blasters from their resting place in sub-space. Before answering her comrade she fire two shots at the fighter jet that had almost gotten her and smiled with satisfaction when it fell to the ground.

"Sorry Angelfire, must have been a momentary glitch in my primary processing unit!" Nightshade replied as her 'sister' got behind her and fired a few shots from her wrist mounted lasers.

"Yeah well get over it and get ready because it looks like we're on!" Angelfire declared as a massive explosion at the entrance to the refinery destroyed the ion cannons mounted on the wall.

As if on cue Jazz's voice came over her comlink "The entry batteries are down, beta team move in!"

"You heard him 'bots! Transform and move out!!" Nightshade yelled and almost simotaneously transformed into her armored sports car mode.

She still found that description somewhat funny considering how poor it was but then again she didn't concern herself with trivial things like that. War was no time to be contemplating your vehicle mode, things like that could get you sent to the Inferno in no time. Slamming down the accelerator she tore off towards the entrance to the refinery with the remaining four members of her strike team right behind her. Weaving and jiving all the way she hoped that the entrance batteries really were down because the strafing fire from the Insecticons wasn't leaving much room for maneuvering. Quickly she looked at her digital watch and kept in mind that it was at two minutes thirty-five seconds which made her accelerate all the more. She knew like the rest of her team that if they didn't manage to get in, grab the energon and get out before the timer ran out that they wouldn't be getting out alive at all. Roaring towards the entrance she saw Bombshell and Kickback standing in the entrance attempting to prevent anyone from getting in. Smiling at either their stupidity or overconfidence she immediately brought up her laser gatling guns from their compartments on her hood. With one final swerve to bring her targets back into line of sight she fire off a ten second volley straight through the center slamming Bombshell in the chest plate and 

Kickback in the legs.

Not slowing down even for a moment she ran over Bombshell's body both increasing Trauma's workload and leaving one less Decepticreep to worry about later. Bringing up a map of the refinery she immediately looked up the location for the storage warehouse and plotted the quickest route. Suddenly a laser blast nailed her on the right hand side door, scorching the armor and forcing her to fight a bit to maintain course. Looking at the direction where the blast had to have come from she saw the problem and cursed at herself for being so sloppy.

I can't slaggin' believe I got tagged by the automated defenses!! she thought to herself as she altered her style of driving to make sure it didn't happen again.

It was a standing joke around the HQ that the Decepticon's automated defenses couldn't hit the broadside of Omega Supreme's backside and most who got hit by them were either rookies or oldies beyond their prime. Hopefully no one caught that little mistake but her or she would never hear the end of it after they all got back to base. She knew that if Angelfire saw that she would make a point of mentioning it to Jazz later so as to make her case of a change in command structure all the more logical. Even though they both treated each other fairly well there was no question that 'fire didn't like the fact that she got posted as Beta team leader instead of her. Fortunately though she was skillful enough to keep her 'sister' optimistic when the time for possible promotions came up. Dragging herself out of her thoughts she made a right turn and 

transformed on the move right in front of the warehouse.

Not wasting time telling the others their jobs she immediately began to use her laser torch to begin cutting an entrance in the armored door of the building. It was a slow process but she hoped it wouldn't be too slow because if her watch was accurate they only had about a minute and fifteen seconds to go. This was the part she hated the most, cutting through the armored door skillfully so that there were no mistakes but at the same time quickly enough to stay on the clock. Her auditory and seismic sensors were at their peak efficiency, taking in every sound around her while waiting for the sound of a 'con sneak attack. Despite the way most people thought about refinery jobs it wasn't as easy as it sounded and had claimed more than it's fair share of casualties.

Finally as the final inch of the new 'door' was cut she knocked the slab of metal in and stepped back to allow the others to begin the loading of energon into Brawn's back in dump truck mode. Checking the timer once again she found that they now had roughly forty-five seconds to go before it became too late to pull out. The others seemed to know this as they increased the pace that they loaded energon onto Brawn at a rate of more than three cubes each. At the rate they were going Brawn would be filled at the twenty second mark which didn't even give them half the time they needed to get clear.

Activating her comlink she said "Beta team leader to Alpha team leader. Have arrived at destination and are in the process of loading the gold. Do not believe we'll be able to make it out by quitting time. Request new entree. Over."

"Alpha team leader to Beta team leader. Manager en route with an ETA of one minute." , replied Jazz over the com, "Finish your meal then get out fast!"

"Roger that! Over and out!" she replied before terminating the transmission.

A small bit of relief swept over her as she accepted the fact that they had more time than she thought they did. It would still be close but at least they stood a chance of exiting the compound before the time ran out and with Jazz providing cover fire everyone should be able to make it back alright. Looking back to see what kind of progress they were making on the loading she was pleased to find that they were almost finished. That left her with only one thing to do before they left so without a word to anyone else she entered the warehouse and walked over to the energon that would be left behind. In a way it was hard to believe that these compact cubes of energy, the cubes that glowed like the stars, could really be the stuff that kept her alive. Mentally she slapped herself for indulging in something that had no use in war time and was generally better off forgotten. Bringing out the explosives she had prepared she began to place them at strategic places among the energon cubes. Once she and the others were clear she would detonate them and level a fair portion of the refinery thereby shutting it down for at least two weeks.

With the final bomb in place she ran out and saw the last of their energon cubes being loaded onto Brawn and the shielded cover sliding over them. Hopefully no Decepticon or turncoat would get a lucky shot with a laser cannon on the way out and blow the energon to atoms along with Brawn himself.

"Alright people we have forty seconds to get the slaggin' heck out of here so lets *move*!" Nightshade ordered as she ran to the front of the group, jumped in the air and transformed back into her sports car mode.

Screeching her tires a bit she took off in the point position with Angelfire taking up the rear as they peeled rubber towards the vacated entrance/exit. Laser blasts from the remaining refinery defenses scorched the ground where they had been mere seconds earlier and sometimes where it thought they would be. Turning left then a few seconds later she finally led her strike team into the proverbial home stretch as the charred entrance gates came into view. For a moment she almost thought that they would be able to make it out in time, that there wouldn't be anyone to mourn when she returned to her quarters as she had done in the past. Unfortunately as she reached the sixty yard mark between her and salvation she heard the familiar sounds of bulldozers, cranes and other construction equipment and knew right away that the Contructicons had arrived.

"Constructicon's! Combine to form..." ordered Scrapper who was in the lead at the time.

Almost as if lifted by unseen hands the various Constructicons began to fly into the air as their bodies changed into their new forms. One by one they began to join with each other, either becoming an arm or a leg, finally after a few seconds becoming the monstrous gestalt responsible for killing many members of the resistance.

"....Devastator!!" yelled the green and purple giant as he walked towards the refinery.

Hooo boy!! We're in for it now! Nightshade thought to herself as she got closer and closer to the charred gates ahead.

Closer and closer she got to her freedom but at the same time each giant step of Devastator brought him much closer to them than was her preference. Almost as if to punctuate this fact a giant fist slammed down on the ground beside them knock almost all of them off their wheels. Rolling with it she transformed into robot mode and immediately began firing at the Decepticon giant's eyes with the hope that she could temporarily blind him. Angelfire copied her and they both combined their firepower at the face of their titanous enemy even though they were doing little more than annoy him.

"Brawn! Blur! Beachcomber! Get out of here!" , she ordered as she jumped and rolled aside to avoid one of Devastator's fists, "Angelfire and I will keep this glitched goon occupied!!"

"Rightrightrightright! We'regoinggoinggoing!!" replied Blur as the three Autobots drove off for the only exit available.

Oh yeah we'll think of something! I just don't exactly know what that is! Nightshade thought to herself as her CPU raced to find a solution to the problem.

For the moment all they could do was try to blind Devastator, aim their blasters directly at his optical receivers and maybe put one of them at least out of commission. Thus both she and Angelfire dodged and weaved, trying to keep themselves from being scrapped, while they continually fired in the general direction of Devastator's head. For a moment it seemed to be working, her sensors showed that Blur and the others had just made it out of the refinery and were proceeding to the rendezvous site. Devastator as she had hoped was trying to block most of their shots from getting to his optics while at the same time attempting to flatten them with his gigantic fists. True if he had decided to open fire with his plasma cannon he could easily scrap them but that would involving risking the refinery and apparently the Decepticon force was reluctant to do that yet.

"Hey Nightshade! Next time you want to volunteer me for hazard duty, FORGET IT!" yelled Angelfire as she fired four shots at Devastator.

"Oh quit whining!! We're doing our jobs and the convoy is already in the clear!" , Nightshade retorted as she brought her twin missile launchers to bear and fired, "Just fire another volley at the 'Con and let's get the slaggin' hell out of here!"

Not wasting any time at all she shifted back into her vehicle mode and made a mad break for the exit/entrance to the compound. This would be mighty close for them, with their firing being the only thing that kept Devastator from really cutting loose he would now be pretty free to take his anger out on them. Hopefully the fact that they could move faster than the giant would give her and Angelfire the edge they needed to get away. Focusing her sensor sweeps behind her rather than in front of her she could see that Angelfire was a bit farther behind her than she should be. She had already cleared the gates and was now roaring across the rocky landscape towards the hill they had previously hid on a few moments earlier and Angelfire was just now leaving Devastator alone as well as transforming into vehicle mode.

"Get the lead out of your trunk Angelfire or your gonna be going straight to the scrap heap!!" Nightshade yelled over the comlink as she tried to gauge the distance between her friend and their enemy.

"Don't get your servos all bent out of shape! I got plenty of time to get clear!" Angelfire replied hotly as she apparently accelerated a bit.

At that moment Nightshade would have sworn that some deity or another was listening because almost as soon as Angelfire concluded the transmission Devastator called his plasma cannon from subspace and fired a shot at her. Almost in synch with the blast an explosion lit up the night sky covering nearly half the refinery in fire and smoke. Nightshade slammed on the brakes and transformed, looking back at where her 'sister' had been just moments ago. She could faintly hear the voice of Jazz coming over her comlink but it was so faint she could have sworn there was a malfunction in her audio receptors. At this moment the various parts of her being were in conflict with each other, her logic told her that Angelfire was dead, her reason told her that she had to get out of there *now* and her heart told her to go back and rescue her 'sister'.

Even when outvoted there was only one thing to do.

Jumping into the air Nightshade transformed into her aircraft mode which was just as poorly defined as calling her vehicle mode an armored sports car. After all that really changed was that a pair of wings emerged between her front and back wheels, the brake and turning lights slid to the side to reveal a set of rocket engines and her wheels folded into hidden compartments. It was a source of endless debate between her and Ratchet, she wanted a more identifiable appearance and him saying that this was the best he could do. In the end she usually just walked off in a huff to train or to go on another mission but the grievance was always there at the back of her mind. As she soared over the wrecked refinery she looked thoroughly amid the debris and fires for signs of her friend which was difficult when she had to keep from being swatted from the sky. 

Nothing.

"Angelfire, you lazy femme of a 'bot!! Where are you!?!?" , Nightshade yelled over her comlink as she launched a salvo of missiles at Devastator before veering off in another direction, "You better not be slagged or I swear I'll chase you all the way to the Inferno!!!"

Again and again she circled the smoldering ruins, silently aware of her sensors informing her of Decepticons approaching from the West and due to arrive in twenty minutes. Any sign for her would due, whether it was a bit of gold metal sticking out from under a pile of metal or her sister's annoying whining over the comlink. For a solid ten minutes she looked all the while annoying Devastator by refusing to be scrapped under his barrage of attacks. She had almost given up hope when all of a sudden a familiar thread of amber laser fire fired up from the damaged area of the refinery. So filled was she with joy that she almost 'whooped' with joy as she began her descent into the ruins but restrained that trivial response. Knowing that she didn't have a lot of time she deployed her grappling hook beneath her and prepared to lock onto her friend's torso. Swerving from left to right as Devastator's blasts kept getting closer and closer, Nightshade could almost feel her 'skin' melting due to the heat.

C'mon body-o-mine!! Stick together for just a few more nano clics! she thought to herself as she got closer and closer to the source of Angelfire's blasts.

"Nightshade!! This is a direct order from a superior officer!!" , came Jazz's voice over the comlink, "Turn around and get the slaggin' hell out of there!!! There's nothing you can do for her!!"

"Sorry sir! I cannot comply with that order!!" Nightshade replied over the comlink and immediately after took her com. unit off line.

After what seemed like mega-cycles she finally cleared the smoke and right there before her, legs pinned down under some debris and full of holes, was Angelfire. Predictably she was trying to be the hero and was attempting to wave Nightshade off but it wouldn't work. Nightshade lived by her own code of ethics and there was one rule that reigned supreme over them all and it would be a cold day in the inferno before she would break that rule. Locking on with her targeting sensors she waited as the distance between them shrank, waiting for the moment when it would reach minimum effective distance. In moments like these time seemed to slow, blasts from a blaster seemed to be moving in slow motion and distances can seem forever to cross. At the same time though these moments can produce acts of perfection, acts that you and your comrades will call million to one acts later. So as the last few feet disappeared Nightshade's doubt also disappeared and she had no doubt that everything would be alright despite the deadly blasts of energy streaking around her.

5 feet...4 feet...3 feet...2 feet...1 foot...FIRE!! Nightshade thought to herself and with a muffled boom the grappling hook shot out from it's housing attached to her underside towards it's target.

When the confirmation of a good launch came back Nightshade's joy broke loose and she exclaimed "YES!!!! Hang on 'sis', I'm bringing you home!!"

Immediately she began to climb higher and higher into the air, all the while dodging the frustrated blasts the mammoth Devastator. She was almost happy enough to laugh at the big lugnut, maybe even throw a few taunting remarks back at him about his programmer! Fortunately though reeling in Angelfire and keeping the both of them in one piece took up most of her attention so for the moment she had only time enough to think them rather than speak them. Then for a moment she thought she heard something extra besides the familiar sound of air blowing by and explosions filling the sky. She smiled as she recognized the familiar cursing and yelling of Angelfire as with every dodge her friend was swung back and forth on the end of the cable. She was *definitely going to be hearing about this later.

Switching to her rear view vid-cam she spotted Devastator slowly heading in the direction of the energon storage warehouse and was struck by a sudden inspiration. Suddenly pulling a complete one eighty she headed straight for Devastator while blasting him with everything she had, aiming more to cause pain than actual terminal damage. Like music to her ears she hit the emerald giant in a sensitive spot causing him to scream in a pain filled rage as he continued to fire his laser cannon at her. Fortunately though his aim was slightly off as his central processor was plugged with pain at the moment so she didn't have to focus so much on zigging and zagging around his blasts. Just as she was about to cross the barrier back into the energon refinery she veered off and headed in a direction that would lure Devastator in the appropriate direction. Just then her comm system told her that someone was trying to get her attention and were not going to take silence for an answer. 

"Daredevils 'R us!! What's your pleasure?" she asked after clicking on her comm speaker.

"Nightshade don't you *EVER* do that again or I'll slag you myself!!!" , Angelfire's voice rang out over the background noise, "What the slag were you thinking turning around and attacking that motor-head!?"

Looking at her sensor display she smiled and replied "Just keep an eye on Devastator for a few more cycles and you'll see!"

Before Angelfire could reply Nightshade turned off her comm system and focused on the task at hand by monitoring Devastator's position. Step by step the Decepticon was moving right where she wanted him and seemed completely oblivious to the heinous scrapping he was setting himself up for. That was one thing you could count on when it came to most gestalts working for Megatron, they were big on firepower but denser than the purest Osmium. She supposed that was to insure that they didn't get it into their heads that they were potentially stronger then him in their combined states and capable of overthrowing him. In about a cycle though she was going to give that bucketheaded dictator a reason to chance making a more intelligent giant for his army. Focusing her rear sensors carefully and doing a few quick calculations in her onboard computer she waited for the precise moment to pull off her little stunt.

A little more......a little *more*......NOW!! Nightshade thought in exclamation as she activated the detonator that had been placed next to the left over energon cubes inside the warehouse where Devastator's foot was about to plant itself.

An enormous explosion rocked the area as all the stored energy of the energon was explosively released in one magnificent blast. It also had the quaint side-effect of knocking Devastator flat on his back and damaging his right foot to the point of making it useless. Now with one leg damaged severely he would be unable to walk much less use his foot thrusters to fly leaving the constructicons with only the option of separating into their five parts with only four able to continue the fight. They would of course be much easier to handle in their separate forms thus lowering their threat to the resistance strike team to a more manageable level. That is if she had any intention of sticking around and scrapping the rest of them which given how much fuel she had expended on this maneuver was not likely at all. Flying by for one more pass she veered off and headed in the direction of where Jazz was probably grinding his gears to shavings thanks to her suicidal stunt. Of course this was nothing new for her, she was always shorting the circuits of those she was assigned under even though she always got results. Still she was probably going to get stuck with sentry duty when they got back and that was *after* a long lecture from the Commander.

Approaching the rendezvous co-ordinates she saw those 'bots and terran forces not on immediate look out watching her coming in. Some were actually cheering in triumph for what she had done, others simply shook their heads in disbelief that she was still something resembling functional. Jazz on the other hand was giving her a look that could freeze molten slag the size of Devastator and made her servo-fluid run cold for a click as well. Slowly she came to a hover position over Trailblazer she carefully lowered Angelfire onto his vehicle mode's roof before disengaging the grappling hook. Switching into robot mode she decided it was better not to put off the grinding she was going to get from Jazz and walked over to him. Standing in her best 'at attention' stance she waited for her mission commander to start berating her on how she nearly got herself killed along with Angelfire not to mention disobeying a direct order from a superior officer. This would however change nothing, if given the chance to do it all over again nothing would be done differently.

"C'mon Autobud, let's get back to HQ before the Contructicons get back to their feet." was the only thing Jazz said as he changed into his Porsche vehicle mode and drove off.

Hooo boy! Inferno here I come! she thought to herself and joined her fellow resistance members as they transformed and headed for home.


	2. A New Assignment

"A Fracture in Time" by Ryley Breen AKA Shadow Master

email : rybreen@theberries.ns.ca

**_Resistance Cell Phoenix, Outside the former site of Boston, 05:00 hours_**

**_Quarters of Lt. Nightshade_**

**Personal Log Entry**

Date : March 30, 1997 :Year 13 of Decepticon Occupation 

[ The energon raid went as planned and we managed to secure 30 cubes of energon in total which at the current rate of consumption should last us about three weeks, maybe four. All in all the mission was a big success but in addition to the big picture things don't look so good. I noticed during the mission that a few 'bots were taking unnecessary risks and others seemed only to be fighting because they were told to. That isn't a good thing. It means that the Phoenix Resistance cell is beginning to die, not of energon depletion or injuries but of loss of hope. I suppose that isn't too much of a surprise, the Autobots were already losing to the Decepticons before they came to Earth and with the resources present here its even worse. In the past six months we've lost three resistance cells down in what used to be Texas and it seems like there will be one dropping every two months after from here on in. The Resistance is falling and with it the last hope for freedom, not just for Earth but for everyone both human and Autobot alike.

I don't like to mention this outside of my quarters, not with morale in such a state, but if we don't achieve a major victory soon we might as well slag ourselves and save the Decepticons the trouble. With every comrade lost and every mission failed the flame of hope that has kept us alive for the past decade will slowly go out. I'll go off line fighting though, I hate the Decepticons too much to give them the satisfaction of my committing suicide or surrendering. It is thanks to them that the only datatracs I have of peace are so blurred and because of them that I have so drastically changed from what I was. Do I regret what I decided? Do I wish I had chosen differently? No, I did what I had to do for the sake of my planet and my people and would do it the exact same way if given the chance. In a way I guess you could say I was lucky, I got the cream of the crop while the others had to make do with whatever was left over. I still see Talon occasionally but like me he's changed from what he once was, yet another reason to hate the Decepticons.]

Just then the comm button on her desk began to blink red indicating that she was in for a meeting with her superiors, probably to talk about her little skirmish with Devastator. Sighing as transformers all do she returned to typing her log entry, hoping to quickly finish it.

[Well duty calls! Time to get my skid plate chewed out by the brass for insubordination, reckless endangerment and other breaches in protocol. C U Later!]

(Personal Log entry ends. Terminate)

Turning off her log recorder she reached over and pressed the blinking button to activate her comm system and see who exactly would be lecturing her today. She almost dropped her jaw when she saw who was on her screen but fortunately managed to hold her composure in place. Few people had seen him outside of Resistance cell Prime and even fewer had talked to him even over a secure comm channel. For the past decade he had been the mainstay leader of the Autobots and thus the Resistance movement which caused him to be respected immediately in both name and body. To find that he was contacting her, from her quarters, meant that either she was going to get a major slagging or she was getting a major promotion. Either way she was in no state of mind to ask which it was so she just sat there looking at him on the screen with her mouth slightly open and nothing coming out.

"Close yoh mouth Lieutenant, y'all catch cyber-flies that way." , Commander Ironhide said good naturedly as a small smile seemed to form, "Report to the conference room immediately for your new assignment."

At a loss to come up with a witty rejoinder she said the first thing that came to mind "Right away sir!!"

On the screen Ironhide's arm could be seen leaning over to press the button to terminate the connection but he stopped just as he was about to press down and said "Nice job with Devastator darlin', nice job indeed."

With that the connection was terminated and Nightshade was left staring almost dumbfoundedly with both awe and confusion at what had just occurred. Ironhide was *HERE* at the base!! He wanted to see *HER* about a new assignment in the conference room where only those above the rank of Captain could go without authorization!!! Without wasting another moment she shut off her computer and after checking her particle blasters energy level she left her quarters and began walking at a swift walk in the direction of the conference room. Her mind was spinning at what this could mean, of what it meant for her future and whether or not she had one. She knew that she had been pushing the container lid a bit more than usual in the past few missions but she seriously hadn't thought she had done enough to warrant this kind of attention. She knew it couldn't possibly be for a promotion since they generally didn't promote people who disobeyed orders or seemed to have a suicidal streak a parsec long. No they reserved promotions for those who followed orders and managed to attain great victories and not rocking the ship.

Just keep it calm girl! Don't let 'em see you fidget! she thought to herself as she turned the corner and saw the entrance to her destination.

Walking up to the guard outside she said "Lieutenant Nightshade reporting as ordered."

"Go on in. They've been expecting you." the 'bot said as he opened the door by pressing his hand to the energy signature ID plate.

Stepping inside she almost lost her composure like she did in front of Ironhide on the vid-screen but managed to maintain it as well as keep her mouth shut. In front of her on the opposite side of the long rectangular table were the leaders of every major resistance cell in North America and on vid-screens behind them were those on the European continent and Asia. This was a one of a kind meeting, ever since the meeting of 1990 there was never such an en masse meeting held for fear of the Decepticons could decimate the command structure. Yet here in front of her they were and she had been asked to attend a meeting with them about a new assignment. From left to right they were right in front of her; Skyfire, Kup, Ironhide, Ultra Magnus and Mirage with all of them looking to the door in notice of her arrival. On the screens were the Autobots Wreck-Gar, Prowl, Elita One and Perceptor who were attending this meeting 

via a new form of sub-space transmission or at least that was her guess judging by who was there. This only served to heighten her unease as she continued to wonder what this meeting meant for her.

"Sit down Lieutenant, we were just about to get this meetin' underway." stated Ironhide as he gestured to a seat to the left of him on the other side of the table.

Following the instructions she sat down in the seat indicated and waited for someone, anyone, to start talking and let her in on what this was all about. Unfortunately from the moment Ironhide told her to sit down to the moment that she did they all seemed to be looking at her with an unusual mount of intensity. She could read no malice in their optics and since this room was shielded from sub-space they certainly couldn't slag her even if they wanted to. Still that did not mean however that they couldn't still scrap her by numbers alone so she was left with two options. Either wait for them to make the first move or do it for them in which case she would look like her central core had crashed completely. So sitting still was all she could do as she waited for them to make their intentions known so she could relax enough to concentrate on what they had to say later. Finally they looked to each other and gave an almost imperceptible nod to each other as if coming into agreement about something. With that done Ironhide brought up her service record, highlighted the last mission report which Jazz had submitted a few hours ago and sent a copy to each of the resistance leaders' screens.

"Now Lt. befoh we discuss the reasons for yoh joining this meetin' I'd like to go over yoh most recent mission." , Ironhide stated as he looked down for a moment to read the beginnings of the report, "Now, yoh mission was to lead yoh team into the energon refinery and acquire twenty-five cubes of energon. Correct?"

"Yes sir." Nightshade replied as she kept an optic on each of the 'bots present.

"You managed to enter the facility with little difficulty, acquired the energon and were making yoh escape when the Constructicons arrived." , Ironhide stated as he raised his optics from the screen built into the table, "Would care to tell us what happened afterwards?"

This seemed to clinch it for her, she had snubbed one too many commanding officers and now they were preparing to take her off active duty permanently. She could try and fight it and explain her actions but too many other 'bots were present at the mission and aside from Jazz and Angelfire she couldn't bet on any of them to back her up on her methods. Thus all she could do was come clean, tell it like it happened and hope that the fact that there were no fatalities would make them lenient.

"After the Contructicons made their appearance they immediately merged to form Devastator. Knowing an attack was forth coming I sent my team ahead while Angelfire and I attempted to distract Devastator long enough for them to get away with the energon." , she replied as she built the info into a report like format, "Once the energon was halfway to the rendezvous site I ordered Angelfire to withdraw with me since our delaying tactic had worked. I had managed to make it clear of the refinery entrance but Angelfire was still inside when Devastator began to fire his plasma cannon which caused a massive explosion."

"What happened next?" asked the aged Autobot Kup.

"I had lost contact with Angelfire and could not raise her on the comm system at all. I then turned around and took to the air in order to do a search of the refinery in order to make visual contact with her." she replied and saw that this was one of the topics they wanted to discuss by the way that they looked at her.

"According to Jazz's report you twice disobeyed a direct order to withdraw" , Ironhide asked as he and the rest of them looked at her, "Is this true?"

"Yes sir." she replied.

"Why?" Elita One asked over the vid-channel.

"Because I would have left a comrade behind" , Nightshade replied as she met their stares, "and that is something that I will always refuse to do."

"You know full well that there was a far greater probability that you would have been destroyed along with her, don't you?" asked Perceptor with a ponderous look on his metallic face.

"Yes sir but I believed that she was worth the risk because with matters such as they are and we need every 'bot we can get." she replied with as much confidence as she could muster in such authoritative presence.

"Oh and why is that, my pretty?" asked Wreck-Gar with a challenging glint in his optics.

"Permission to speak frankly sir?" Nightshade asked Ironhide professionally.

He nodded and she said firmly "The Resistance is slowly dying and lost our last chance at victory a long time ago. In the past few months we've lost three other resistance cells and those are only the ones I've heard about. The situation is growing desperate and the deaths of comrades are only making things worse for us and better for the Decepticons. In my opinion, if things continue to proceed as they have been, the Resistance will be dead in three years."

That last sentence seemed to startle them significantly and she wondered if she hadn't spoken a little too frankly in appraising the complete tactical picture. If they were on the edge of court martialling her before she had just made their decision for them right now. Cautiously she waited for the audio overload that was to come when one or all of them decided to reprimand her for such a bold statement. For five minutes straight all they did was whisper to each other quietly, throwing a few glances her way but mostly keeping their looks to each other. Eventually though they calmed down and all optics were back on her much to her dislike and she knew that the thermal Nuclear bomb had been dropped and was going to blow up right now in front of her face.

"Yoh right." , Ironhide said somberly as he looked at her with elder eyes, "In truth we've lost ten times that many Resistance cells in the past six months."

That almost floored her at she took into account the fact that in total there were roughly fifty resistance cells on Earth alone and in the grand total there was roughly seventy-seven cells. That meant that as of now there were only forty-seven Resistance cells left still in one piece and for that to happen in only six months meant they were dropping like flies. She almost couldn't believe it, she had known it was bad but she 

had never thought that almost a third of the cells had been wiped out. For almost ten seconds she tried to think of how Megatron could be obliterating so many cells in such a brief period of time. Then she stopped herself as such deduction was useless, the fact was that it was happening and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Perhaps that was what this meeting was about, maybe they have a lead and they want her to go on a team to deal with the threat.

Or maybe they think I'm a leak! she thought and almost immediately stood up to defend herself against such allegations but was stopped by a gesture from Ironhide.

"Don't worry darlin', yoh not bein' accused of being a spy." , he stated and then smiled, "'Sides we already went over yoh quarters with a fine spectrographic analyser without picking up so much as a blip."

Her emotions were a mix of relief and anger at those before her but given the situation she could not question their motives for searching her quarters. So instead of telling them to eat slag and storming out of her she simply frowned and waited for them to continue.

"The reason yoh here is because you have been selected as a candidate for a mission that could very well mean supreme victory for the Resistance." Ironhide declared. 

"Excuse me sir? Did you say 'supreme victory'?" she asked and this time she was unable to contain her confusion and small dosage of hope.

"Yes I did Lieutenant, as hard as it is to believe that after what you've just heard." , Ironhide replied with a smile as he watched with amusement at her changing expression, "Tell me, what do you know about the arrival of the Ark on Earth and a commander by the name of Optimus Prime?"

Her curiosity being aroused she answered "Well about four million years ago you and a group of Cybertron's greatest Autobot warriors led by Optimus Prime left your home world in search of new sources of energon to finish the war with the Decepticons. Unfortunately the Ark and it's occupants were followed and attacked by a Decepticon battle cruiser named the Nemesis carrying their greatest warriors led by Megatron. The ensuing battle caused both ships to crash land here on Earth where all involved fell into emergency stasis until the year 1984 by the human's calendar. The Autobots unfortunately awoke to find their leader Optimus Prime dead, apparently destroyed in the crash, and without him the creation Matrix dissipated."

"Correct, glad to see some 'bots takin' an interest in history." , Ironhide stated as he activated a holographic display in the middle of the table, "What you don't know however is that Optimus did not in fact die due to the crash."

"What!?" she asked in surprise since this information was contrary to what she had learned.

"According to the autopsy done by Ratchet soon after our first battle with the Decepticons in 1984 Optimus' injuries were caused by a plasma weapon of unknown type." , stated Ironhide as the technical schematic was displayed holographically, "I had always meant to pursue an investigation into this but with the Autobots in desperate need of a leader I had better things to do. Besides most 'bots considered it an open and shut case since the facts were too few to lead to anything important."

"Four months ago however we stumbled upon something that has led to new developments in the matter. Look at these two energy signatures." , Ultra Magnus stated as he pressed a button bringing up the two wavey energy readings, "What do you make of this?"

Not quite getting what they intended to show her she examined the two energy signatures before her and immediately began to see a similarity. The one on top which was shown to be the one that had killed Optimus Prime was remarkably efficient while the one on the bottom had to have been an antique prototype. There was a definite similarity but there was also a difference which probably meant that she was looking at the beginning and the end of a weapons development program. That of course led her to ask the leaders assembled here her next question which she hoped would clear a few things up.

"It looks like the beginning and the end of a plasma weapon's development, their energy signatures are similar but one is obviously the more efficient of the two" , she replied as she prepared to ask her next question, "So what does this mean? The 'Cons have some secret weapon that they're planning to use sometime soon?"

"If it is then they won't be using it for well over hundred years." , answered Perceptor with a note of frustration present, "The less efficient energy signature you see there was found during a raid on a Decepticon weapons research base. They are apparently experimenting with a new form of plasma charge much different from anything we've come across before."

"What!? If this weapon is still in the development phase and isn't finished then how could it have killed Prime?" Nightshade asked as the ramifications and most likely answers fell into place.

"Our current theory is time travel, that somehow and for some reason a Decepticon came back in time to a point where we were all in stasis aboard the Ark and killed Optimus while we slept." , replied Skyfire with hope in his voice that was all but extinct in other 'bots, "It is theoretically possible since our last contact with Cybertron did note that experimentation was being conducted on creating a transwarp drive 

engine for starships."

"Still that doesn't explain *why* a Decepticon would go back in time to kill Optimus. After all as Ironhide just stated, the Resistance is all but dead so what would cause such a risky gambit?" Nightshade asked as she tried to fit the various pieces of the puzzle together.

"A Decepticon would take such a risk if he believed that his faction was all but dead" replied Ironhide in a way that was more a statement of fact then anything else.

"What?" Nightshade said for what seemed like the sixth time.

"The only explanation that we can come up with is that this timeline shouldn't exist." , Kup replied in a somber tone, "Somewhere back to just after the Ark crashed the timeline split off from what should have happened because of a Decepticon time traveler. Apparently in the other timeline something happens that forces Megatron to send an assassin back in time to kill Optimus in order for him to claim victory which in this timeline he has."

"What about the paradox theory? Isn't that supposed to make altering the past impossible?" she asked as she tried to remember all she could about time travel.

"Theoretically yes but apparently Megatron found some way around that.", Ironhide replied as he pressed another button on the table, "Fortunately so have we and that is where you and the remaining five members of a special task force come in."

As soon as the Commander pressed the button the display of the two energy signatures disappeared and a video feed from what appeared to be a laboratory came up. All throughout the room Autobots and humans were walking about working on a large metallic arch that stood in the middle of the room. Wires and other pieces of metal jutted out of it making it look like a frayed piece of cable but obviously it was important judging by the number of people and 'bots working on it. Looking back to the leaders present she hoped to find some indication of what all these stray bits of info meant.

"About two weeks ago a secret project called 'Gate Keeper' reached a monumental breakthrough that has led to some massive changes in battle strategy." Ironhide stated as he indicated that she should keep watching the display.

Looking back she noticed that all of the scientists had moved away from the arch itself and were in the process of powering it up. For a moment nothing seemed to be happening but then a bright vortex opened in the arch's center, expanding until only a foot separated the energy from the metal. It looked like someone had taken the Aurora Borealis and twisted it into a glowing disk, rotating clockwise like a windmill. For the next few moments after that Nightshade said and did nothing, only watched the spinning vortex and all it could mean. Then she saw two of the Autobots walk up to the arch and jump into the vortex, disappearing right then and there. Looking back to Ironhide for some explanation to the transformers' fate she saw him meet her gaze with one of his own.

"The two Autobots reappeared exactly when the Gate was supposed to send them, two days into the future on Cybertron." , Ironhide stated as he closed down the display and shut off the hologram, "With the success of that test ah have authorized a mission to restore the altered timeline, we are going to undo Optimus' death."

It was all so unbelievable but if they were telling her the truth then it was also a great honor, that she out off all the 'bots in the Resistance, that she would be chosen to change things for the better. All the pain and suffering she had experienced, all the destruction and devastation would be gone along with the Decepticons. Fortified by the news she looked directly at each of the leaders with sweeping stare and made the only decision she could.

"Commander Ironhide, I would be honored to be a part of this mission." she said in sharp military tone.

"Ah thought you might but ah had to bring you before the entire Resistance Council in order to gain their approval of your assignment to this mission" , Ironhide said in agreement as he looked at the other leaders, "which I assume I have?"

There were nods all around the room and with each one the profound nature of this mission grew until she found that she was truly going to be making history with this mission. Once the decision was made unanimous by each member of the council Ironhide returned his gaze to her with a bit of satisfaction in his optics. In a way she knew how he felt because with her assignment to this mission apparently the final overview of the task force was finished. That did not mean that it was a done deal by any means, between now and departure anything could happen, which meant that until she stepped through the vortex and disappeared things would remain tense.

"Good. Lieutenant Nightshade, at twenty-two hundred hours tonight you are to report to the south entrance of the base where you will join an apparent Decepticon maintenance convoy." , Ironhide explained, "That will be your cover until you reach the site of the project so as to avoid attracting any unwanted attention. Right now though I want you to go to med bay to undergo some alterations for the mission, we're on the clock and every second counts. Dismissed."

"Aye, sir!" Nightshade said and professionally got up, turned around and left the room.

Before she left though Ultra Magnus said "Nightshade, the information you've been given here is not to leave this room. Don't talk to anyone about this. Anyone! Understand?"

With only a slightly dimmed expression Nightshade replied "I understand sir."

Once the doors slid shut the Resistance leaders present turned to face the ones on the view screens. All had looks that were both troubled and yet satisfied that despite what they had just done it would all work out for the best.

"So thats it then, tomorrow everything changes." Kup said with fatigue that he normally hid from others lower on in rank.

"Were we right not to tell her the rest?" Elita One asked in a worried tone of voice.

"Better that she stays focused on the mission at hand and not worry about the details." , Ultra Magnus stated with a note of regret, "We know what would happen if we did fill her in on the details and right now that is something we can't permit."

"Agreed." , Ironhide stated as he began to get out of his seat, "You'd better terminate the connection before the Decepticons crack the encryption algorythem."

All Resistance members on the screen nodded and one by one the images on the screen blinked out of existence leaving nothing but the blackness of the monitor itself. One by one each of the present members of the Council left until only Kup and Ironhide were left in the room together. Despite his agreement with Ultra Magnus he still had a look of guilt on his face that spoke silently of his thoughts. Kup noticed this and walked over to give his leader one last bit of encouragement, knowing that nobody could wipe it away the gloom completely.

"Don't worry! Nightshade is smart and resourceful which is exactly why she was picked for this mission." , Kup said as he placed a hand on Ironhide's shoulder, "It won't happen again, I promise you that."

With that Kup left the room and the only one still present in the conference room was the Autobot who had taken over for one of the greatest 'bots he had ever known. The problem was he just might have sent yet another 'bot to termination just now that might outshine them all in what she was about to do. Pressing a few buttons on the table and a list of reports scrolled down numbering twenty one in total. Ironhide opened one and after a few moments of reading it he suddenly sagged, his arms supporting him on the table. However it was not fatigue that robbed him of his strength and not an injury either but instead a weight on his spark that had just gotten one 'bot heavier. 

Only time would tell if any of them would be lifted.

*************************************************************

Resistance Cell Phoenix, Sub-level 5, Mess hall, 12:00 hours 

What in the name of the Inferno have I gotten myself into here! Nightshade thought to herself as she drank a bit more of her cube of energon.

It had been a little over an hour since Rachet had finished his modifications to her body and ordered her to the mess hall to refuel on energon to regain her strength. Looking back on the meeting she had to have had a few bugs in her system accepting the mission right off the bat. She'd have never have thought that the Resistance council would play the distract and drive routine on her and she certainly wouldn't have 

thought she of all 'bots would have fallen for it. Now that she had time to think through the ramifications of what she had been told in the conference room she had more than a few questions left unanswered. For one thing they had been awfully vague as to why she had been chosen for this mission and had managed to hide that from her by flattery. Another was that they hadn't told her any specifics concerning the mission, like how they planned to save Optimus Prime from being scrapped. There were an awful lot of loopholes in their explanation and if there was one thing that she didn't like it was unknowns. On the battlefield unknowns could get you killed in a cycle which was why she always tried to do a little research before every mission. Advance intelligence on a target always helped the mission go smoother and allowed her to adapt to any changes in the scenario.

Unfortunately it looks like I'll be flying by the metal of my skidplate on this one. she thought to herself ruefully as she began pondering the possibilities mission wise.

However before she could get very far some 'bot slapped her on the back nearly causing her to spill some energon on the table. Turning to give the tailpipe for a processor what she thought of him she was surprised to see that it was Angelfire. Her 'sis' still looked a little beat up from the raid on the refinery but her legs looked more or less fully functional. Unfortunately she had that flicker in her optics that foretold 

of imminent badgering and interrogation about something. There were of course a few normal possibilities but there was only one that could have gotten her sister this worked up.

"So 'sis', what did all the big 'bots want to talk to you about?" , Angelfire asked as she sat down next to her, "Did they vape ya for shining Jazz at the refinery?"

This wasn't going to be easy at all, she had orders not to discuss the mission with anyone but Angelfire and her had been friends almost since the beginning. They had never intentionally hidden anything from each other and even when ordered to keep their audio circuits in check they had given each other hints as to what the mission was about. This mission however was different, it was probably the most important one she had ever been in since the beginning and with unnatural success the Decepticons had been having lately could she really take the chance? No. Best to keep her sister out of trouble and her mouth shut so things would stay manageable.

"Sorry sis but the B.B's said the info was for my optics only and to keep a lid on it." , Nightshade replied reluctantly, "All I can say is that I'll be leaving for the new assignment at 22:00 hours and I probably won't be back anytime soon."

"That bad huh? They shipping you out to some remote place where you won't be able to mess things up, huh?" , Angelfire replied humorously as she smiled, "Don't worry! Once Jazz debugs his systems directory he'll see how good you are and have you back here before Blurr can finish a sentence."

"Maybe." Nightshade muttered as she tried to figure out the exact consequences of the mission if it succeeded.

"Sheesh! You sound more depressed than Jazz usually gets when another of his classic Cybertron Top 50 discs get scrapped." , Angelfire said in an attempt to lighten her sister's spark, "C'mon! Let's head down to the training level and blast some battle drones. That always cheers me up!"

"Sorry 'Fire but this lovely femme 'bot has other arrangements!" said a voice that Nightshade knew instantly but only served to make matters worse.

Getting up from the table she turned to confront the owner of the voice and said "Nice to see you too Hot Rod, when did you get back in?"

When she had gotten back into the base after the run on the energon refinery she had briefly gone in search of him to gloat about how she had taken down Devastator only to find him gone. It was almost a weekly thing between the two of them, each trying to show how one was superior to the other by pulling of stunts both real and imaginary. It wasn't really what *some* 'bots might call a serious relationship but it had become a trend during the past year. She attributed it to the fact that his usual femme friend Arcee wasn't paying enough attention to his regalias of past battles which he claimed to have won for them. He on the other hand simply said that there was too much friction being stirred up between them and that it would be better for both if they spent some time apart. That did not however stop Arcee from giving her the occasional cold glare when the femme 'bot spotted Hot Rod speaking with her. She had tried several times to talk to the pink and white femme but every time she did one or the other would walk away grinding their gears big time. So the result was the occasional loud argument which caused a few of the observers to place bets on who was going to scrap who first. She hoped it would not come to that but if it did she wouldn't be the one with a hole in her torso plate.

"Just a few clics ago and heard you were here." , Hot Rod replied as they walked out of the mess hall, "Want to go someplace and talk?"

Nightshade didn't really feel like talking but she knew that once Hot Rod saw that she was acting like a maintenance 'bot he would keep bugging her until he got at least a smile from her. So she nodded and followed him, deciding it was probably better that he choose the spot for a little chit-chat. It would give her more time to think about the assignment she had just accepted rather eagerly and hopefully be able to figure out the details on her own. So far she knew that they'd be traveling back to some point in time to prevent the great Optimus Prime from being scrapped while he was in emergency stasis. She also knew that she would be member number six in a task force that would be charged with that duty in the hopes that it would change the past into something brighter than what it was. The culprit of the crime is most likely armed with precision centered advanced plasma weaponry and was probably a new Decepticreep entirely. That she could tell from the pics of Optimus' dead shell, only the head had been hit and most 'Con weapons made a much bigger mess then that. Looking for any scrap of info that might shed some more light on the subject she determined that there weren't any more real specifics, just theories. That wasn't good in her mind, specifics meant safety and if the top Brass wanted this job done right they would need to give the team more than this. Just then she felt a hand being waved in front of her optics and noticed that Hot Rod was trying to get her attention.

"Wha..? What did you say?" she asked while the mech fluid beneath her face plate heated up a bit.

"I said 'Here we are!' but it looked like you were in one of those matrix trances." , Hot Rod replied with a sly grin, "Whats got you so bogged down in processing?"

Slag!! Nightshade thought to herself as she tried to devise an excuse for her steel wool gathering.

"I was just thinking about I totally scrapped Devastator this morning on the refinery run!" , she replied sarcastically as she gloated, "Knocked that big tin can flat on his back! Let's see you top that one next time you get assigned to an energon run!"

"Yeah, well just you wait! Before the month is out I'll have slagged a 'con twice as big!" , Hot Rod retorted halfheartedly as he once again took a serious tone, "Now seriously, no dodging, whats bothering you?"

"It's nothing, just my new assignment." , Nightshade replied in a non-chalant manner, "They're giving me guard duty at some new installation for a while since I shined Jazz big time back at the refinery."

"I told you that one of these cycles you were going to get your chassis busted for doing things your own way!" Hot Rod said jokingly.

"Yeah? Well the Inferno will freeze over before I put rules and regulations over my personal code!" she replied crossing her arms across her chest.

"Same old Nightshade, hahahahahaha! Never giving an inch and never afraid of anything!" Hot Rod laughed as he shaked his head.

"Better than kissing the skidplates of superior officers and getting the jeggies every time one of those gestalt Decepticreeps show up!" Nightshade stated somewhat less solidly than she had wanted to.

She tried to firm herself up, hide what was really going on inside of her, before he could detect that anything was amiss. After all it was foolish what she was feeling right now, it had to be a bug in her systems directory or her voice actuator that was causing her to get soft. Turning away she looked out of the nearby window and gazed at the tall walls of the Phoenix Cell's base, laser turrets on top every hundred yards. She ran diagnostic after diagnostic on her circuitry and they all came back saying that there was nothing the matter with her. She then noticed Hot Rod standing beside her, a look of concern in his eyes and a crease of worry in his face plate's forehead. She knew that the game was up, that he knew that something more was bothering her, but some stubborn part of her spark refused to give in. She refused to give him the satisfaction that he would get in seeing her normal carefree determined warrior facade 

break down. Slowly her gaze rose and she realized that she had given no signal to her servos to do so causing her to realize that it was Hot Rod who was causing her to look him in the face. For a moment she tried to look away but she could not because she knew she needed to talk about this even if she didn't want to.

"What's wrong?" Hot Rod asked as gently as possible.

"The assignment is more than what I said it was but the top brass want it kept quiet.", Nightshade replied as she tried to keep her voice from fluctuating, "The basic idea is that I probably won't be coming back here, not with things the way they are now. When it's all over everything will be different, you probably won't even recognize me at all."

"Sure I will! There is no way in the galaxy that I could forget the way you smile every time you scrap a 'Con on a mission!" , Hot Rod replied but in the perimeter of his voice there was worry, "No matter what happens I will always be able to pick you out of a crowd."

Hearing those words sparked something deep within her that she had thought was gone forever, something that she had lost. So lost was she in the feeling that she didn't even know she was hugging him tightly while drops of mech fluid dripped down her face. There was an angry voice in her telling her to get her hands off of him and show some dignity, to stop being so soft. It was the warrior in her, the part of her that gave her enemy no quarter and believed that thinking about the past was a waste of time. After all nothing could change really, even with her mission in mind, so it was better to block such thoughts out and focus on the task at hand. However the part of her that was in control at the moment told the others to go straight to the Inferno and roast because she needed this moment of release more than they knew.

She was gratified that Hot Rod didn't say anything and didn't shove her away in rejection, he just held her and let her cry herself out. This was definitely not the way that she pictured this scenario, after all it was a lover that was required for these tender moments and she had only known Hot Rod for a year tops. Not exactly a well established relationship that one could use as a sounding board for all her deepest thoughts and emotions. Yet for ten minutes straight she cried, releasing all the grief she had kept stored away in her data tracs, venting the sadness coming from the thoughts of what she had lost. When eventually she had finished she stepped back and wiped away the fluid staining her face plate. Regaining her composure she looked at her spur of the moment confidant and saw that while it was obvious he was still in a bit of a shock he was happy that he had helped her.

"Thanks." Nightshade said neutrally as she put back on her warrior's face.

"Anytime." replied Hot Rod with a slight smile on his face.

Feeling slightly embarrassed at her outburst she did an about face and walked away down the corridor towards the mess hall. Maybe she could still catch Angelfire and she could take her sister up on the offer of a round of bash and blast. If she had looked in the right direction though she would have seen a pair of aqua blue optics glowing with rage in the shadows before they vanished.

*************************************************************

South Entrance of Phoenix Cell HQ, 21:40 hours 

Well this is it, no backing out now! Nightshade thought as she walked out into the open air heading towards the south entrance.

She had been a mess of misfiring circuits for the past few hours and it had only gotten worse once it started. Still despite it all she was determined to continue with the mission as planned, after all if it succeeded everything would be changed for the better right? Besides its wasn't like she would be completely alone in this, she would have five other 'bots from her time to keep her company and keep her mind off the more depressing things. Looking at the others who were waiting at the gate she smiled slightly as she recognized a few of them. Blurr was there pacing back and forth at an amazing speed which was no doubt annoying the others to no end while next to him was the former commander of Alpha team Jazz. He looked up and when he saw her approaching he gave her a grin that told her that he wasn't still mad at her for disobeying his orders back at the refinery. Not that she was unduly concerned about what he thought of her but it was still a good thing not to have a 'bot watching her back that didn't like her. Next apparently on the team was the duo of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, both of which looked uncomfortable in their Decepticon paint jobs.

Glad I didn't have to go through that much reworking! she thought to herself as she looked down at her own body.

All that had been required in terms of paint was to cover up her Resistance insignia with a Decepticon one which could be removed easily once she was through with it. Rachet had seemed unusually somber while he was doing the job, this was odd because usually he went out of his way to make her smile at least once when she came into med-bay. When she had asked him about it he just made up some slaggin' excuse about being tired and needing some serious shut down time. She hadn't been at all satisfied with the reply but with all the things they had on each others plates she decided not to push the subject any further. Now that she had been given time to ponder it she knew that there was something more to this case then what the higher ups were telling her. Unfortunately it would take nothing short of the creations matrix itself to get them to tell her everything.

The last member of the team other than her was Blaster and at the moment was leaning up against the wall shaking his head back and forth, presumably listening to some oldies songs. She had never really gotten to know him while he was around on the base but from all accounts he was a good 'bot and a solid fighter when he was needed. All together they were a great task force with a wide variety of talents and skills that could probably handle anything that was thrown at them. Unfortunately that statement was just a puff of smoke in reality, she had no idea what they would be facing once the mission actually got underway. Hopefully though things would go relatively smoothly, after all they only had to get to the past and sneak aboard the Ark. Then once it crashed and they were awakened from emergency stasis and be charged with keeping Optimus Prime in one piece for a few million years.

I wonder what we'll do for fun during that time? she thought as she took her place among the others and began to do a internal systems check.

Just then the door to the base opened and Angelfire appeared with something in her hands but at her current distance she couldn't figure out what it was. Nightshade frowned in puzzlement as she tried to make out what her sister was carrying and hoping it wasn't some sort of sentimental gift. She was having enough trouble keeping her feelings in check without Angelfire making her all weepy and rusty. As her sister got closer though Nightshade could see that it was a small steel box that Angelfire was carrying and the expression on the golden girl's face didn't look like she was preparing for a crying jag. Waiting patiently she looked at the results of her systems check which read all systems as operating at peak efficiency including the stasis inhibiter. Once Angelfire was within a few feet Nightshade put on her best 'tude and tough girl face before stepping forward to meet her.

"Don't tell me you're goin' all sentimental on me are you?" Nightshade asked jokingly as she tried to guess what might be in the box.

"Hardly, I just though you might need this where ever they're sending you!" retorted Angelfire as she opened the box and took out what was inside.

For a moment Nightshade was confused as to what her sister was holding, it appeared to be an old rectangular isolinear chip used in the bases computer core. The only difference was that it didn't have the chase-interface module that would allow it to be compatible with human technology. Looking back at her sister she prayed that Angelfire would be forth coming with an explanation or she would be at a loss as to how to react to the gift.

"It's a piece of the Ark gal! I been carrying it around inside me ever since the Autobots were forced to vacate it a few years back." , Angelfire said as she passed the chip to her, "Now I'm not one to believe in human superstition but I believe that this little things is what has been keeping online all these years by giving me good luck."

"Yeah, it would have to be something like this that keeps pulling your can out of the smelter every time you go on a mission!" Nightshade replied as she placed the chip into a storage compartment on her left forearm.

"Hey that was skill sis, not luck!" Angelfire replied as she punched her sis in the shoulder.

Suddenly Nightshade noticed the silence that had suddenly permeated the immediate vicinity and when she looked about to find the cause she saw that Commander Ironhide was standing by the entrance to the base. She couldn't help but feel a bit of relief at the fact that the other 'bots were acting much the same way she had when she had seen him. After all when he had called her in her quarters she had been a complete wreck and had acted like a first week recruit but now all the others were acting the same way. Watching to see what he would do she saw him look at Jazz and motion for him to go over there with him. Watching with rapt attention Nightshade watched as the Autobot went over to his commander and both 'bots as they temporarily entered the base. It was only three cycles later when Jazz emerged but she could tell that something was different about him, something that made him seem greater than he actually was. Problem was that she couldn't pick out what was making him different which caused her to discount the feeling she had as being pre-mission jitters.

"All right team lets transform and roll out!" commanded Jazz and in accordance with the order the other members of the team went into vehicle mode with Blaster jumping into Sideswipe's front seat.

"Well I guess you better get going before Jazz scraps you for disobeying another order." , Angelfire said a bit uneasily as she was no doubt trying to decide what was appropriate for the occasion, "See you later alright?"

"Sure." Nightshade replied as she shifted into vehicle mode and took up the rear of the convoy.

Yet despite the fact that she hated long goodbyes she couldn't help but keep one of her external cameras focused on the south entrance as she sped away. For almost ten minutes she kept looking back at her sister, her friend, her home and everything that had made up who she was for the past decade. Now she was moving into the future and she had no idea what to expect or what would be around the next bend. Would it be the path to salvation or would it lead to her imminent destruction? The answer was no where in sight and that left her with the only thought that helped her keep things together as the distance blurred out any particular part of the base.

I'm doing it all for them! So that they will have a better future to live in and not have to suffer any longer! she thought to herself as she shut down her rear external camera.

*************************************************************

There.

The convoy was away and so was the target without any deviation from what had been projected to happen. Now all that was left was to follow them and do what was required to ensure the plan happens accordingly. Nightshade was not going to get away that easily.

*************************************************************


	3. First Here, Then There.

"A Fracture In Time: Part 1 Chapter 3" by Ryley Breen AKA Shadow Master

email : rybreen@theberries.ns.ca

**_Approaching Project Gateway HQ, 23:30 hours_**

It had been an hour and a half since they had left Phoenix HQ for the site of Project : Gateway and judging from the way the convoy was slowing down it seemed that they had arrived at their destination without incident. Problem was her sensors weren't reading anything but burnt forest and mountains around them and from what she had seen of the complex in the hologram the base was enormous. Still she trusted the 'bots that were with her, if things got dicey they would put a sizable dent in Megatron's forces before they went to the Inferno.

After another five minutes Jazz, who was taking point on the convoy, came to a stop and transformed into robot mode. Quietly he signaled for the rest of the task force to do the same before seemingly walking into the middle of nowhere and pointing at thin air. Trying to get her mind off of the bizarreness of everything she transformed and began to check her particle blasters' power readings. It was a nervous habit she had picked up soon after joining the resistance and it helped her focus when she had to. Keeping an optic on the apparent commander of the force she scanned the immediate vicinity in case they had been trailed by a Decepticon cassette agent like Ravage. She had heard tales of how a team of resistance agents had tried to sneak into a Decepticon compound only to be caught unawares by the cat-bot. The 'Con alone wasn't that big a threat but he sure raised the alarm in a hurry and caused four out of the five team members to get vaped.

That is not going to happen on my watch. she thought to herself as she noticed that Jazz had finished pointing into the air.

The suddenly, as if from nowhere, a door materialized right in front of Jazz and opened revealing a corridor where there shouldn't be any. There was no rippling effect and no tell tale signs in front of the door that it had been used very often. Usually any type of cloaking device, no matter how advanced, gave itself away in some manner by either forgetting about footprints or light displacement. This was not the case here, this cloaking field was flawless and definitely ahead of its time which meant that this base was *VERY* important. Walking into the base with the others she was bombarded by the sight of some of the most advanced tech gear she had ever had the opportunity to look at. All about her she saw humans, Autobots, mutates and cyborgs walking about doing one thing or another without paying any of them any mind. That was unusual because she was sure that with a mission as important as the one she and the others were embarking on would cause others to look at them with hope in their eyes. They were probably doing the same thing she was, keeping their minds on the task and trying not to worry about anything else. After all she knew very little about the full implications of this mission and that was enough to cause her circuits to randomly misfire. These science boys must know every implication there was which meant that they must be barely holding it together.

The six 'bots continued to walk down the hallway until they came to a door that had four very well known 'bots guarding it. Snarl, Swoop, Slag and Sludge were standing in front of the doors and she would bet her last energon ration that Grimlock was inside waiting to scrap any 'Con who got in there. The Dinobots had made quite a reputation for themselves since their creation, slagging more 'Cons than any other 'bot she knew. The fact that they were guarding the door left no doubt in her CPU that behind that door was the temporal gateway that would be taking them to Cybertron four million years ago. Just as she expected Jazz stopped in front of Slag and apparently spoke a password or something since a few moments later the Dinobots stepped aside and let him enter. One by one each member of the team with her picking up the rear entered the room with the Dinobots giving each of them a thorough once over. Once inside the room she couldn't help herself as she gaped in awe of the huge arch in front of her right then.

It's incredible! she thought as she gazed upon the key to the mission that definitely looked much bigger in person then on a holo display.

For about a cycle her motor functions were on autopilot as she obliviously followed the 'bot in front of her. It was right then that she began to feel the enormity of what was going to happen in a few cycles and she was more than a little intimidated. In a few moments she and five other 'bots were literally going to be changing history as they knew it, render everything they knew unto nothingness. It was the uncertainty that mostly bothered her, the lack of evidence that would tell her that things would be better if they managed to save Optimus Prime. Would the world be better than it was now? Would the people she cared about still be around? These are questions which haunted Nightshade's mind as the line finally came to a stop and stood at attention in front of the 'bot whom she assumed was the project administrator. Surprisingly enough he was a human, or mostly so, who looked to be just about thirty-five years of age with brown hair and glasses. Personally she would have thought one of the Autobots would be the project administrator but the high council must have had their reasons for choosing him.

"I am not one for speeches so I'll make this quick and brief." , the human said as he walked back and forth in front of them, "My name is Dr. Chip Chase and I am the project administrator for Project Gate Keeper. You have been selected to compose the task force that will literally change history as you know it. There is however one important fact that I believe you should be aware of before we conintue with the briefing."

"As you all know by changing the past you will be erasing a critical factor in how things unfolded up until now which leads to the danger of a paradox. This means that by achieving your objective you will be erasing the past thirteen years completely", Dr. Chase explained calmly and slowly, "That means that without the procedure being handed out to you now you would be erased as well and the mission would be doomed to an endless loop of failures. Fortunately the procedure will prevent the paradox by altering your quantum frequency to match your destination date. You will become as much a part of the past as any other transformer on Cybertron at that time."

"This however will also force you to make a tremendous sacrifice." , said Jazz as he stepped out from his place and stood beside Dr. Chase, "By becoming a part of that time and changing it's future everything you have experienced for the past thirteen years will cease to exist. That means when the Autobots awaken in 1984 after we accomplish our mission they will not recall anything about this timeline or who you are."

"You will literally be an anomaly to them, a stranger with no past before the Ark's departure from Cybertron. For some of us though, those who were created during the course of this war on Earth, they will not be known to anyone outside the team." , Jazz said as he sympathetically looked at her for a moment, "I know that this is a great deal to ask of all of you but once we step through that time portal there is no turning back at all. If any of you have a problem with this I want you to speak up now and I'll try to make due without you on the team."

This was it! Her one chance to back out of the mission and perhaps maintain her life as it was here on Earth. For a split second she almost chose to leave the task force but then her warrior's spark roared with fury at the notion of taking the coward's way out. If she stayed here the mission might fail and she would be condemning her comrades to a losing battle against Megatron, hundreds of millions of sentient beings would suffer and die if she chose to stay behind. Then again if she went along with the mission and it succeeded she would still have sacrificed hundreds of millions of people because history will have changed. 

In short I'm vaped if I do and vaped if I don't! , she thought to herself with a cross frown, Well if I'm gonna get slagged it might as well be for something worth while.

So as her answer to Jazz's questioning stare she simply stared back with determination and strength in her optics as well as on her faceplate. He grinned in response and she realized that he had hoped that she would respond in that way which gave her another reason to stay on the team.

"Very well then let's get the show on the road." , stated Dr. Chase as he activated a comm link on his cybernetic arm, "Dr. Straussmore? Set destination co-ordinates and begin powering up the gateway."

With that command a low hum filled the room and for several minutes nothing seemed to be happening but then the room shook violently causing the humans to fall over and the Autobots to steady themselves. It was just a gut feeling but Nightshade doubted that the shake they had all just felt was due to the gateway powering up. Looking up to what she assumed was the control room for the gateway device she saw that everything was a flurry of motion as scientists both human and Autobot worked madly at their controls. Suddenly the room shook again but much more violently and causing the lights to flicker signifying a disruption in the power grid.

"Chase to command center, what the hell is going on!?" Dr. Chase exclaimed angrily into his comm link.

"Springer here sir! The Decepticons have somehow managed to locate the base and the attack force is currently battering out defense shields!" came a tense voice from the other side of the link.

"WHAT!? Thats impossible! Who is in command of the attacking force?!" Chase asked as his stress level went up ten notches.

"Megatron." replied Springer and at that moment the entire room fell silent.

Jazz was the first to recover as he asked "Dr. Chase, how longer until the portal is online?"

"We need at least ten minutes to open the portal and another five before it is safe enough for your team to pass through." Chase replied as he continued to bark orders into his com-link.

"Can't you speed the process up any?" asked Sideswipe as he primed his weapon systems.

"Look bits for brains! Time travel is a delicate process and cannot be rushed!" , Chase yelled back at the scarlet transformer, "Not if you want to land on Cybertron in one piece with your spark intact."

"Then we'll have to stall the Decepticons until the portal is ready!" Nightshade declared as she brought her particle blasters out of sub-space and prepared to charge off into battle.

"Hold it femme 'bot! Have you forgotten just how important you are to this mission!?" Chase asked as he stepped in her path.

"No, but ...!" Nightshade replied with a bit of frustration as she tried to get around the human without hurting him.

"BUT nothing Nightshade! You stay here and get ready to jump through the portal the instant it stabilizes." , Chase said as he ran towards the door, "Let the rest of us handle the 'Cons."

Silently Nightshade fumed and her optics glowed a brighter shade of red as she watched the human leave the room. She did not like the fact that she had to sit here behind the front lines while a fierce battle was being fought outside. Still, she had her orders and thus was obligated to follow those orders to the letter no matter what her spark wished of her. 

**********************************************************************

Command Center, 24:05 hours

Ten minutes until the portal is safe to go through. Nightshade thought to herself as she watched the bolts of energy streak towards the center from the technological arches.

Her thought was then punctuated by yet another tremor as an explosion nearby ripped apart another part of the base. For the past ten minutes the base had been rocked by devastating blast after devastating blast with the energy shield having been knocked off-line within the first three minutes. Megatron must have assembled a pretty powerful force to take it down that quick which either meant that he wanted to make an example of them or he was determined to vape them completely. That caused her to frown as she tried to deduce what could make the all powerful leader of the Decepticons that determined to destroy a base like this. Obviously the numerous defenses that this base had would make him suspicious of what was inside but why would he come himself instead of assigning an underling? The circumstances were just not fitting with the profile she had studied in the Phoenix cell database and that just made her even more concerned. 

Just then she heard what sounded to be some sort of explosion outside the doors to the room which was immediately followed by the sounds of lasers blazing. Frustrated at being able to do nothing to help those on the other side of the door she grabbed a piece of metal debris up from the floor and after setting one of her particle blasters to it's lowest setting began trying to weld door shut. Surprisingly Jazz hadn't tried to stop her or ask what she was doing but instead ordered Blurr to help her weld the door shut. That was a blessing in disguise since with his heightened speed they would most likely get the job done in half the time it would have taken otherwise. Through all of this she could still hear the sounds of the battle raging outside the room, blasters blasting and far off she could swear that her audio receptors could hear Megatron's fusion cannon firing. She prayed that whoever was on the receiving end of that blast would be granted a quick end but knew that such a demise was unlikely coming from the tyrant.

Five minutes later the door was completely covered up with pieces of scrap metal until it looked as though someone had slapped together a sloppy excuse for a wall. Hopefully it would last the five minutes they needed for the gateway to stabilize so they could get away and continue on with their mission. For a brief moment she looked up to the control booth where the humans had started the power-up procedure, wondering if the process was automatic or would require further manual adjustments. Suddenly it hit her harder than one of Devastators fists, if the Decepticons took over the base they could use the portal to twist the past into whatever image they desired. If that happened Megatron could easily figure out when they went and send forces to prevent them from altering the time-stream or simply preventing the Autobots aboard the Ark from even leaving Cybertron. Then with no one to challenge him on Earth he could lead the Decepticon forces here to Earth and conquer it without any effort at all.

Getting to her feet quickly she briskly walked over to Jazz and asked him "Sir? Permission to start positioning explosives around the gateway?" It took him about a minute to think about it but then he gave his permission to do so, albeit a bit reluctantly and he wasn't the only one. All but Blur also looked at her like they wanted to stop her but knew that they couldn't because they knew it had to be done. She guessed that none of them had really accepted the fact that they would be erasing their world in exchange for a better one, that they would never see their friends as they knew them again. Truth be told she was only starting to swallow what Dr. Chase had told her fifteen minutes ago herself and she would have given her right arm unit for just an hour more to adjust. That, however, was impossible because in a little over three minutes they would be jumping through that portal and leaving all they knew behind them. Taking another of her hand made explosives from sub-space she placed it next to another she had put near one of the power relays built into the arch that produced the portal. The idea was that when they went off they would create a power surge that would slag half the base and maybe if they were due for a miracle take Megatron with it. With a flick of a switch she activated the detonator's radio receiver and walked back to join the rest of the team.

"The explosives are in place sir. Half a cycle after the timer is activated the portal will explode hopefully taking out half the base and most of Megatron's forces in the process" she reported a bit more coldly then she had intended.

"Half the base!? What about those that are on our side that might still be inside the base?!" asked Sunstreaker who looked like he was ready to seek vengeance for those who had yet to die.

"Any who are still functional won't be for long with Megatron's forces slagging everyone in optic range!" , she replied in defense of her actions, "Besides the destruction of this time portal is more important! If Megatron got ahold of this his power would be immense and I believe that every resistance member would rather get vaped than allow that to happen!!"

Before Sunstreaker could form a reply to her argument the welded door to the room exploded outward with a fierceness, knocking half of them off their feet. Rolling with the falling Nightshade came back up in a kneeling position with both particle blasters aimed at where the door would be. No sooner had the smoke cleared then she saw who had blown the doors off and immediately felt the hunger for battle well up within her. The silhouette was that of one of Megatron's air force but the unmistakable red trim to the wings was unmistakable. She had wondered whether or not Megatron would bring him along but was infinitely pleased that he had come because she owed him some payback from a long time ago.

"Well, well, well! So this is what you rebels have been so secretive about!" stated the arrogant and high pitched voice of the Decepticon standing in the doorway, "I must say that I would never have thought you low lifes to be so clever as to make your own time portal. Megatron will be most pleased with me for securing this for him and apprehending you six for interrogation."

"Interrogate this Starscream!!" Nightshade yelled as she fired as fast as her blasters could go, hoping to hit something vital like his spark.

For the most part all but one of her shots missed as the Decepticon dove for cover behind a console, the only wound being to his shoulder joint. She grinned when he screamed out in pain, pain that she had caused, and shouted back threats of unending pain as retribution. Fortunately according to her chronometer there was only two and a half cycles left until the portal stabilized and Starscream's threats would be so much vapor. Firing standard volleys and ducking underneath her piece of cover debris she counted the seconds left before she could signal the explosives and dive through the portal leaving Starscream to an ugly end. She almost wished that she could wait a bit before leaving and taunt him with the fact that she had finally beat him but the mission had to come first.

Suddenly shots rained down on her from above and she was forced to scramble over to where the brothers Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were keeping safe. Looking up at where she estimated that the blasts were coming from she recognized the group that had taken to firing at her, the Combaticons. It made sense that they would be around here somewhere to back-up their creator Starscream but it didn't exactly make things any easier for the team down here. With the concentrated fire coming from them mixed with Starscream's from the direction of the door it would be almost impossible to make it to the portal without being tagged at least twice. She hoped that they would be able to eliminate at least half of them before the final cycle and a half ran out or none of them would be going anywhere without going away present. Just then, without warning, two of the combaticons flew through the glass separating the control room from the portal room and crashed to the ground in heaps. Looking at them in shock she noticed two sizable blast holes in each of them that indicated that they had been attacked from behind causing her to look up and see who had been their savior.

"I can't leave you alone for a second without you getting your tin can into a fix!" , came a familiar voice from the control room that was like music to her ears, "I got everything handled up here sis! Why don't you shut that loudmouth's voice transmitter for me? He's getting on my circuits!"

"Angelfire!?!? What in the Inferno are you doing here?!! More importantly *how* did you get here!?!" Nightshade asked as she saw the last of the Combaticons get a shot to the gut.

"You honestly think I'd let them ship you out to some mysterious address without finding out where it was for myself?" , Angelfire asked humorously as she fired a few shots into the hallway, "As for how I found you I put a subtle homing beacon in that chip I gave you before you left."

"WHAT!?" Nightshade exclaimed with shock and surprise.

"Hey, what didya expect? I'm just that kind of femme!" Angelfire replied as she ducked a blast from the hallway causing it to slice through a panel in the wall.

Nightshade grinned and shook her head as she traded a few more shots with Starscream before checking her chronometer to see how long they had before the portal was safe to pass through. She sighed with relief when the display read three quarters of a cycle and counting and fired back at her enemy with newfound confidence of the mission getting off the ground. All they had to do was stall the 'Cons for a few more seconds and then she could start the timers on the explosives before jumping to safety. With Angelfire guarding the control room and with her team keeping this door covered there was no way that they could be thwarted. Then, almost as if in answer to her unspoken challenge, the debris cover she had been hiding behind exploded sending her and the S brothers flying across the floor of the room until they almost hit the portal generator. For a few moments her optics flickered and she could not get a clear image of the force that had once again stacked the deck against them. Unfortunately that was not fated to last long as a few seconds later the self repair programs kicked in and restored her sight to optimum efficiency. When she saw the cause of the fluctuation in sight she almost wished that she had remained blind and disoriented. After all, at least then she would be able to maintain a hold on the hope she had left, the hope that was shattered by the Decepticon in front of her.

Megatron.

"Surrender rebels and I'll grant you a swift termination!" Megatron said in a manner that told them he did not care either way what they did.

Looking up she saw Angelfire crouching almost out of sight with blaster raised, no doubt trying to decide what to do and how to do it. From what Nightshade could determine Megatron had yet to notice her and from her sister's vantage point a once in a lifetime opportunity arose. She knew exactly what she needed to do, to get across to her sister but she had to do so in a way that would not give away what she had in mind. It was time to dabble in a little deception of her own and hopefully her sister would catch on in time.

"I wouldn't bet on it Mega-Ego!" , she declared as she got to her feet and walked toward him without an ounce of fear in her step, "In fact I think it would be in your best interest to clear out of here before you get vaped!"

"Oh and why is that rebel?" , Megatron stated sarcastically as he lazily pointed his fusion cannon at her, "Your forces are all but gone and now that I have control of this facility there is nothing that can defeat me!"

"Correction Mega-Jerk! Nothing but a hundred pounds of explosives planted at the power conduits to the portal!" , Nightshade replied as she decided to start her secret message, "All I have to do is send the SIGNAL to the detonators and no CPU in the galaxy could save YOU from getting VAPED!!"

Looking quickly up at her sister she smiled on the inside as Angelfire nodded in acknowledgement of the message and took aim at Megatron's head. All it would take would be one shot at full power and the greatest tyrant the world had ever seen would be sent straight to the Pit. She just had to keep the said 'tyrant' distracted for a few seconds more and Angelfire would take the shot designated by her. Hopefully the loss of Megatron would cause enough panic among the Decepticon forces to give the resistance time to regroup and evacuate the complex. Once that was done she and the rest of the task force could jump through the portal just after she triggered the detonators. Just a little longer and Megatron's software would be decorating the room with the entire resistance dancing on his empty shell.

"Hahahahahaha! Very amusing female but I don't think you have the bearings to destroy this base along with yourself!" Megatron declared as he took a single step towards her.

"True but then maybe I won't have to! NOW!!" she yelled and waited for the familiar sound of Angelfire's blasts firing off a full power shot.

Nothing happened.

There was no sound at all and she was sure that her sister had heard the signal so that left her wondering why she hadn't fired. Looking up at the control booth she saw her sister standing there, motionless, looking down at her with her blaster by her side. Why hadn't she taken her shot? What was she doing? Then a horrible possibility came into her processor, a possibility that almost crashed her software into oblivion. Had Angelfire led the Decepticons there and betrayed the resistance? No! No, that was too horrible to imagine about someone who she cared about and trusted as much as she trusted her own skills! Still how else could she explain what she was seeing before her, how things had gone straight to the smelter in a matter of seconds. Well if she was gonna get slagged she was going to take the as many of the 'Con's with her as she could, starting with Megatron!

"Oh don't look so distraught Nightshade! It wasn't your dear sister who sold out the resistance" , came a familiar voice from the control booth, "it was me!"

"ARCEE!!!! You're got fry in the Inferno for this!!" Nightshade yelled in a monstrous rage at the pink and white femme 'bot sporting a new Decepticon symbol on her chest.

"Then you can save me a spot because you're going there first!!" replied Arcee who shifted her gun from pointing at Angelfire to Nightshade.

It happened so fast that Nightshade couldn't move or perhaps she just didn't want to give the traitor the satisfaction that she was afraid of her. The blast however didn't hit anything vital, it just winged her in one shoulder and almost caused her to drop one of her particle blasters. She staggered backwards a bit but she soon steadied herself and continued to stare back at the turncoat with vengeance in her optics. She didn't reach up to cover up the wound, didn't try to deaden the pain, just stood there in defiance of her former comrade. She swore that right after she took out Megatron, Arcee would be the next one to get her software shattered by her particle blaster. Looking back at Megatron she saw that a sadistic grin had broken out on his face plate and that just infuriated her all the more.

"So rebel, any more threats?" Megatron asked in a taunting manner.

"I can still trigger the detonators on the explosives Megatron!!" , she declared with venom in her voice, "I may terminate but at this point I have nothing to lose and everything to gain from blowing us all straight to the scrap heap!!"

"Oh please Nightshade! We both know you won't do that, you may be suicidal but there is no way you'd be so selfish as to take others along with you!" Arcee retorted as she resumed pointing her blaster at Angelfire.

As if proving her wrong a blast shot into the control room from the hall and slammed into Arcee's back sending her down to one knee. From there things went incredibly fast as Megatron realized he was no longer covered from above and Angelfire saw an opportunity to slag the traitor before her. Looking at her chronometer she saw that the final ten seconds were counting down and quickly glancing at the time portal she could see the last of the fluctuations disappear. Looking at Jazz they both nodded in agreement that it was time to scram while the scrammin' was good and before Megatron decided to go for broke. Bringing both her blasters to bear she fired a volley of shots at Megatron, all of them hitting him in the chest causing him to stagger back a few steps. Motioning for the S brothers to go she watched out of her peripheral vision as they ran towards the portal and disappeared along with their footsteps. Quickly she fired four shots from each blaster at Megatron's midsection hoping that the pain would distract him long enough to do what she had to do. Storing the blaster in her left hand in sub-space she brought it to chest level with her chest and flipped open the master control for the detonators built into her forearm. Quickly she tapped in the activation code and grinned with satisfaction as the numbers began to count down from thirty seconds before turning back to her the threats in front of her.

Up in the control room she could see that Angelfire and Arcee had given up trying to shoot each other and were trying to scrap each other the old fashioned way. Brutally. At the same time she got her first glimpse at the 'bot who had saved her sister and gave the resistance the advantage back, it was Hot Rod. If she had the time she would have yelled at him that he was going to get in big trouble for following Angelfire to a top secret base without authorization. Unfortunately keeping Mega-Jerk from getting off a clear shot was consuming most of her time and there were still three more members of the team to send through before she could leave. While firing her particle blaster at Megatron she motioned for Jazz, Blurr and Blaster to head through the portal ahead of her. For a moment it looked like they would refuse her offer but then after a more insistent gesture from her they complied and jumped through the portal. That left only her to go through and she knew that she had to wait to the last possible second so as to make sure none of the 'Cons had time to follow her through before the big bang. According to the chronometer she had just under twenty seconds before the explosives would go off which meant that when the counter read five seconds she was going to go through.

Slowly but surely she began to back towards the portal, not in the least wanting to see if she could run across thirty meters in under five seconds and still make it to her destination in one piece. Unfortunately Megatron was slowly getting angry at the pain her blasts were causing and when a 'con got mad they didn't pay much attention to the self-preservation programming inside of them. With a fury that caused all on the receiving end to turn tail and run for cover Megatron fired his fusion cannon, not caring where the blast went. Unfortunately for her it hit right at her feet knock her onto her back with several of her systems flickering for a moment before coming back to previous levels. Right at that moment she wondered if this was it, if this was how she was going to go offline, flat on her back with an angry Megatron ready to atomize her. Personally she thought that it was a lousy way to die.

Leveling his fusion cannon at her Megatron declared "Give my regards to the Inferno, rebel!!!"

"Say them yourself Megatron!!" roared Hot Rod's voice and as one both Nightshade and Megatron looked to the source.

From up in the control booth Hot Rod had ceased laying down cover fire into the hallway and had launched himself into the air heading directly towards Megatron. The next few clics went by like hours as she saw Hot Rod, with a look of fury on his face, preparing to pound his target into scrap metal. Megatron saw this coming and began to bring around his fusion cannon to blast his oncoming assailant. She wanted to help him but the counter on the detonator beeped it's ten second warning and she knew there was no way that she could help her friend and join the others on the other side of the portal. She had to make a choice, both of which would lay the guilt on her something fierce and she knew that she had to make it quick. Taking in the entire scene as the seconds clicked away she could see Angelfire still locked in mortal combat with Arcee with both showing signs of damage. If she waited until the last possible second she 

may be able to witness their triumphs before leaving this era and heading for the past. The problem is there was also a chance she could witness their destruction at the hands of the Decepticons and that would become the last image she had of them, two defeated allies. In an uproar of emotions that almost overloaded her circuits she shut her optics off, turned around, and ran towards the portal as the final seconds on the detonators clicked away.

Just as she began to touch the portal Nightshade screamed "I'll remember you always!!!"

Then she was gone, swallowed up by the nimbus of energy that was the portal, one second before the explosives went off causing a chain reaction akin to three thermonuclear bombs.

***********************************************************************

**_Cybertron, Neutral Territory, 3,998,003 B.C_**

Nightshade landed hard on the steel ground and rolled with it so she came up on her feet and immediately began to put some distance between her and what was left of the portal. She wasn't entirely sure if the blast from the other end would make it through to this time but wasn't about to get slagged her first time on Cybertron. 

"Fire in the hole!!" she yelled and waved at the others to follow her lead before it was too late.

About eight seconds later it happened, a steady cylinder of energy fired out and slammed into the metal ground vaping it before it had a chance to melt into slag. The shockwave though knocked everyone off their feet but fortunately it also gave them the extra push they needed to get to a safe distance. The blast of fire lasted for about thirty seconds before the portal destabilized and gradually shrunk until it blinked out of existence all together. Pushing herself up she winced slightly as the electronic version of pain registered reminding her that she still had a nasty shoulder wound given to her by Arcee. Hopefully just a little work with a standard repair kit would be enough to patch it up so that she could get on with the mission.

"I'll say this for you Nightshade, if we don't save Prime then at least you took a large chunk of their forces out back there!" Blaster exclaimed as he and Blurr looked down the hole the energy from the portal had made.

"Enough sight seeing 'bots! That blast is sure to register on the Decepticon's sensors and we'd better make tracks before they get here." , Jazz declared as he transformed into a hover car, "Lets transform and roll out!!"

One by one they transformed, some vehicle modes completely different from the ones they possessed on Earth while others simply hid their tires inside secret compartments. By the time they were all done she skeptically agreed that these changes would keep other 'bots from taking undue notice of them, at least from a distance. Bringing her speed up to 75 kmph she took up the rear of the group as they all proceeded to drive towards the first section of their journey. Unfortunately not only was it the first section but it was also probably the most unbearable since they would be flying just a few meters above the Cybertronian equivalent of a sewage system. She had briefly asked Jazz about it while they had waited for the portal to stabilize and he had said that it was the safest route to Wheeljack's lab since neither faction came too close to it. Both Autobot and Decepticon patrols pretty much steered clear of that spot since the chemicals present had a corrosive effect on their metal skin. The task force wouldn't have to worry about that since their outer skin was coated with a chemical solution that would give them limited protection. This meant that they would be able to avoid serious damage but wouldn't be able to push things by staying too long.

Good thing we'll only have to fly over it for about two hours. , Nightshade thought to herself with a wry grin, If we stayed any longer my processor would fry quicker than smelted iron ore!

Focusing her attention on the terrain ahead of her she could see that they were coming up on the beginning of the sewage dump and already she could smell the repulsive odor. Hopefully the coating would also keep them from smelling too bad when they left otherwise the 'Cons wouldn't need a sensor sweep to find them, they'd just have to follow the stench. With the distance between her and the edge of the dump shrinking the smell grew more repugnant and she silently cursed the top brass for devising this as an acceptable route to their objective. With only a few meters separating her from the sewage itself she braced herself for the smell that she would have to endure being less than a few meters above it for awhile. Soaring off the edge and dropping like a stone towards the sewage below she remembered one crucial fact that had previously slipped her mind. Unlike the sewage the humans had to deal with back on Earth the crap they had to deal with here on Cybertron was quite acidic which meant if you fell in you didn't come back out. Momentarily afraid that she could not be able to stop her descent she fired her vertical take off engines and pushed them to half strength.

"Nightshade! Shut off your jets girl! You'll ignite the sewage!" yelled Blaster who was currently in ghetto blaster mode on her front seat.

For a moment it looked as though she would not respond in time but the sewage got closer and his words sunk in she complied. Shutting down the flame centered engines she waited for the magnetic cushion to stop her descent and when it did she both sighed with relief as well as kept her eyes off the others. She had acted like a *slaggin'* rookie by firing her jets just a few moments ago, getting scared by something that could easily be dealt with and had been dealt with by the others. She bet that the others were already questioning her right to be on this team as well as picturing a few others whom they thought could have done better. They would also probably coddle her a bit if things got tough later and if there was one thing that she could not and would not tolerate was being treated like a weakling. That was the one thing she had sworn to herself that she would never be again soon after she had been first brought online years ago. It had been weakness that had allowed the Decepticons to defeat the Autobots after the Ark crash landed on Earth and it had been weakness inside Arcee that had caused her to betray them. Weakness meant death in wars like this and she would slag herself before she allowed herself to be seen as weak by anyone, whether they be friend or foe.

"Keep your sensors on passive scan 'bots!" , ordered Jazz from the front of the group, "Anything more powerful might bring unwanted attention in our direction."

Complying with the order Nightshade brought her sensors down low and kept their range within a hundred yard radius. It wouldn't give her and the others much of a warning but it would have to do since anything else would put out a higher energy output. So far as near as she could tell they were safe, no 'cons or 'bots in the area and nary a weapon emplacement in sensor range. If this continued the mission might very well go smoother than she had thought it would and perhaps put them ahead of schedule by a few hours. That would give them more time to figure out how they were going to get aboard the Ark without being noticed and stay there the whole trip to Earth. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had suggested simply taking the places of their counterparts in this time but Jazz had vaped that idea by bringing up the possibility of further temporal complications. Reluctantly all agreed since all of them only possessed a 

limited knowledge of time travel and it's possible hazards.

Better not get ahead of ourselves. , Nightshade thought to herself as she rounded a turn behind Blurr, First we have to get to Wheeljack's lab so we can alter our quantum frequencies to match this time period. That is *if* it doesn't slag us instead!

Little did she know that it wouldn't be the process that would be doing the slagging for if she had focused her sensors or even her rear vid-cam she would have noticed that they were being followed.

***********************************************************************


	4. Disaster Strikes!

"A Fracture in Time" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: rybreen@theberries.ns.ca

Decepticon HQ, Main Throne Room, One minute ago

"What is the status of our fuel supply Soundwave?" Megatron asked as he looked down on the emotionless Decepticon warrior.

"Fuel supply at one quarter capacity. Estimated time to termination of fuel supply twenty-two stellar cycles" replied Soundwave in his icy distorted voice.

Megatron frowned at the news, their fuel supply was getting dangerously low and while the Autobots were not much better off it still concerned him. Already the search teams he had sent out to find hidden stashes of energon were beginning to come up empty handed. If this trend continued they would all soon cease to function but more importantly it would give any would be usurpers an opportunity to take control of the Decpticon forces themselves. The lack of energon and subsequent rationing of the supply was already producing rumblings of discontent among his less loyal followers and Starscream seemed a little too pleased by that. Not that the opportunistic Decepticon was a real threat, with his fusion cannon 

he was still the most powerful Decepticon on Cybertron. Despite his great strength though he would not be able to keep effective control of his forces for much longer. He *had* to find more energon, even if that meant leading a group into Autobot territory and depleting what they had even further with failure a distinct possibility.

"Megatron, report from surveillance agent Laserbeak. Autobot convoy detected in sector D9." Soundwave suddenly announced as he projected an image of what Laserbeak was seeing from his eyes.

"What?! Identify destination and possible points of departure!" Megatron ordered as he tried to deduce the reason for the Autobot convoy's presence in Decepticon territory.

"Destination Iacon City. Possible points of departure sector C7, B6 and A5" replied Soundwave as the image changed from the convoy to a map of the area with red dots marking departure and destination points.

Looking at the points of departure that Soundwave was displaying Megatron immediately discounted the first two possibilities since they denoted a repair facility and a scrap yard. The third grabbed his attention immediately as he remembered that one of his own private stashes of energon were hidden in that sector. Could it be that the convoy of Autobots had discovered the location of his cache of cubes and were even now transporting it to Optimus? Unlikely, the defenses he had placed around the storehouse were formidable and it would take a miraculous amount of skill to penetrate the defenses without triggering at least one alarm. For a few moments Megatron pondered the various reasons the Autobots could have had for visiting that sector but then tossed such useless thoughts away. It mattered not why they had been there, the fact that they had trespassed on Decepticon ground was reason enough to extinguish their sparks.

Standing up Megatron said "Soudwave! Assemble a strike team to deal with these trespassers! I will lead them against the Autobots myself!"

"As you command, mighty Megatron." Soundwave replied as he gave the Decepticon salute and left the room.

Grinning slightly to himself Megatron walked down from his throne and contemplated how best to use the situation that he had been presented with moments ago. One possibility was that he could retrieve whatever energon the Autobots had stolen from him and place it in the main storage facility with the rest of the stockpile. This would quiet most of the minor dissent in his ranks and hinder the more important usurpers long enough to succeed in the thwarting of Optimus Prime's plans to find energon elsewhere. His grin widened as he remembered the report he had received detailing Optimus' decision to take his best warriors offworld in search of energon. When news of the ARK's construction reached him he immediately had ordered the construction of a more powerful warship and named it the Nemesis. It still required some fine tuning but he was confident that it would be ready to follow the Autobots' ship in a few stellar cycles. Of course he would not destroy the ship right away, that would be wasteful since there was a possibility Prime would find a source of enrgon and if so he would make that source his own.

For a moment he simply stood there until right on time his com link beeped indicating a message from Soundwave. Activating it he waited to hear who his loyal servant had picked to accompany him on this mission of destruction.

"Megatron, your strike force has been assembled. Decepticons Thundercracker, Thrust, Ramjet, Starscream and Dirge await you at the hanger bay." Soundwave declared in his usual monotone voice.

Good choices my loyal friend! Megatron thought to himself as he stroked his chin slightly.

Soundwave had quite skillfully assembled a group compose of primarily his most loyal supporters and his most questionable soldiers. Add that to the fact that the supporters outnumbered the potential traitors and he had little to worry about concerning his safety. The mission would undoubtably go according to plan and he would reap the benefits of silenced opposition as well as a suicidal level of support from the whole group. Still to add a crowning bit of attention to himself at the conclusion of the battle it would have to to be him alone who would destroy the leader of the convoy. It would prevent the others from getting a swelled cranium about the kill and would cause that much more pain in Optimus Prime when he learned of the fate of his convoy.

Ahhhh! Today is a good day for destruction! Megatron thought to himself as he left the room.

A few moments later laughter could be heard echoing down the hallway.

**********************************************************************

Sewage Gutters, Cybertron, Twenty cycles(minutes) Later

"Pretty quiet out there, eh Blaster?" Nightshade asked quietly as she made a slight alteration in her navigation of the gutters.

"Yeah, you getting the same 'it's a little too quiet' feeling I am?" Blaster asked wryly in response.

"I think we all are Blaster." , replied Nightshade grimly as she did another passive sensor sweep of the immediate area, "I find it hard to believe that we've gotten this far without running into a single patrol, Autobot or Decepticon. Was security always this relaxed here on Cybertron?"

"At the time femme both sides were so low on fuel that patrols by 'bots were kept down to a minimum and guard duty was given to sensor arrays." , Blaster replied as his voice tone lightened as he remembered better days, "Still I know what you mean about the lack of contact, there should be a patrol going by this area right now."

That bit of information only increased Nightshade's unease by the lack of activity that her sensors were detecting on passive mode. She might be able to pick up something more if she intensified the sweep and increased the radius but that would make them pretty noticeable to any 'bots in the area other than them. That was something that she was sure Commander Jazz would want to avoid at all cost but that didn't mean she had to like it. She hated being blind like this, limiting herself for the sake of stealth, when the enemy could be all around her just waiting for the right moment to strike. If it wasn't for the importance of this mission she would just go right ahead and disobey the sensor silence order since she would probably just get a reprimand for it later. She might still do it anyway, after all they were reaching the edge of Decepticon territory and after that it was just a few short clics to Iacon. The question 'what could happen?' sprang up into her mind and was responded to with a 'plenty you impatient rookie!'.

"Commander? Permission to do a ten second high level sensor sweep of the area?" Nightshade asked over the 'bot-to-'bot comm-link.

"Negative Nightshade! We are to maintain strict sensor silence the entire way to Iacon City!" Jazz replied harshly since radio silence was risky even this close together.

"Sir! I respectfully request again to conduct a ten second sensor sweep", Nightshade said with significant stubbornness, "We have had no contact whatsoever with either side since we got on this tinfoil ball! Doesn't that strike you as being a little out of the ordinary!?"

"Not necessarily, we may have just missed them as we came by their patrol areas." , Jazz replied in a slightly calmer tone since he noted that anything else would just provoke Nightshade more, "Besides this is what command was hoping for, a smooth uninterrupted trip all the way to Iacon."

"Hoping will get you scrapped more often than not and as for your excuse it ain't worth a bucket o' slag!" Nightshade stated firmly before waiting to see what his reply would be.

As a rule she tried not to buck authority figures too much since it generally caused major flak to fall down on top of her. Still when she wanted one of her commanding officers to know that she didn't agree with his or her orders she let them know it right away and didn't back off until they had been explained to her satisfaction. In this case however it was a simple case of her believing completely that a sensor scan was necessary and not willing to give up until she received permission. Still, it would be up to Jazz to decide whether or not denying her again was worth another few cycles of argument.

"Fine! Just make it quick." Jazz replied as he severed the comm-link.

Satisfied that she had won this battle she brought her sensor grid control protocols online and immediately switched from passive to aggressive on the intensity scale. For a little while it seemed as though her paranoia was unjustified and that there really was nothing out there to be worried about. The seconds ticked away and just as the timer was about to hit ten she got contact on a level she hadn't bargained for. At first she only saw one Decepticon energy signature on her screen but then that became three and after that seven blips were registering on her sensors. Normally that would not be enough to cause her worry, after all the range of her sensors were much better then the Decepticon norm in this time period and so the chances her scan had been detected was pretty low. The reason she was prepping for battle readiness was because unless there was a bug in her systems directory the squad of Decepticons was on an intercept course and gaining fast.

"Commander! I've got seven marks coming in on an intercept vector, estimate time to contact to be two cycles!" Nightshade declared to everyone on comm-link.

"Slag! How did they spot us!?" Jazz asked in frustration as everyone began to power up their weapon systems.

Almost in response to his question laser fire began to rain down on them from above causing them to scatter in order to avoid the blasts. Focusing her external cams skyward she found the source of their imminent misery flying above them firing random blasts down at them. She cursed herself for not anticipating that the Decepticons would have a stealth rigged operative like Laserbeak patrolling the more likely routes of travel for secret convoys. Believing that their cover was pretty much blown she immediately transformed and rolled into a battle crouch before pulling her particle blasters out of sub-space. She immediately smothered the avian 'Con with a barrage of blasts forcing it to break off it's attack and thus giving Jazz and the others time to establish their own positions. Not that it was going to do them much good in the long run, there was no way they could make it to Autobot territory much less Iacon before they were intercepted. Add that to the fact that attracting the attention of the Autobots would only compound the disaster rather then remove it and you had one rust pile of a situation.

Looking around at the others she tried to get an idea of what they had to work with. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were both taking cover behind a pile of waste barrels near the gutter while Jazz and Blur standing ready on the opposite side of the sewage gutter using the groove's edges for cover. That just left her and Blaster crouching pretty much out in the open which meant that they would probably be the focus of most of the Decepticons blasts. Hopefully those that had been dispatched were the lower level grunts and not the higher ups like Starscream or Soundwave. Things were fifty-fifty on that since she couldn't identify the members of the group that was less than a cycle away based on their energy signatures. Still given her luck in these type of situations Megatron himself would be leading the force approaching which meant they were all pretty much slag.

C'mon Nightshade! Keep talking like that and you will be slag! she thought to herself as she checked the power readings on her blasters.

Just then she began to pick up the group of 'Con's on approach and tried to make some sort of identification as to who they were up against. It was getting easier as the seconds passed but even she was hard pressed to make any definite identifications even at maximum magnification. Still she was pretty sure that most of them were fliers with only two others on jet packs which allowed them a certain amount of mobility since they would be limited to strafing runs. As for the two land based 'bots she was confident that those two would be manageable enough so long was they weren't too strong. Cycle by cycle and nano-click by nano-click the Decepticons got closer and eventually they came close enough for her to identify them.

"*Sigh* I hate it when I'm right!" she moaned to herself as her eyes locked onto the black fusion cannon mounted on the leader's arm.

Just as she had mentioned moments ago there was Megatron, leading the squad of Decepticons towards them and looking particularly sadistic today. For a moment she got a wicked case of mechanical deja vu as she remembered the painful last few moments back at the secret installation. It had been at that place of hope that the leader of the Decepticons had forced her to abandon her friends for the sake of the future. She closed her optics as she tried to push down the fresh pain she felt at the destruction of all she had known, all because that piece of slag up there wanted to be ruler of everything. Opening her eyes and looking up at the object of her pain and hatred she prayed that she would be able to cause him a slagload of pain before she went down. Smoothly she changed the position of her blaster so the first shot she fired would hit Mega-ego right in the chest plate.

"Nightshade, change places with Blurr!" Jazz ordered from his position against the wall of the sewage gutter.

"Why?" she asked as she tried to figure out what tactical advantage switching positions with Blurr would do concerning their current situation.

"Just *do* it!" Jazz ordered with a growl.

With a growl of frustration Nightshade got up from her stance and ran in Jazz's direction and gave Blurr a quick high five as they passed each other. It made no sense for Jazz to change her position, Blurr was faster with a blaster than her and could provide him with better cover fire. After all he was the only real important member of this group that was really indispensable when it came to the overall mission. It couldn't be some sort of on-the-mission test because it served to logical purpose since if they were successful their army wouldn't even exist anymore. Still he was the boss and she was just a lowly trooper whose job was simply to obey orders and live with the consequences. Jumping down into the gutter with Jazz she discovered that she had done so just in time since just as her head disappeared below the edge three laser blasts flew by and struck the other side of the gutter. Aiming straight up she waited patiently for the right moment and then just as her optics picked up the front end of one of the fliers she flicked the automatic switch on her blasters and fired. She raked the underside of the blue flier and smiled as she heard Thundercracker's familiar scream of pain.

She tried to nail another two before they got out of effective range but only managed to give them a small amount of damage on their rear thrusters. With no further damage to be done she ducked back down under the cover the edge of the gutter provided to avoid the return fire that would surely be coming. All around them she could hear the sounds of the other members of the team fighting for their lives but with the forces that were pitted against them there wasn't much of a chance for victory. Not only were they almost outnumbered two to one but they were also sitting on one big energon mine that could be set off at any time by a stray blast from either side. Add to that their despicable excuses for cover and she knew that unless they did something fast they were all going to the scrap heap in a very unpleasant way. Turning to Jazz she could tell that he was thinking the same thing but judging by the frown on his face he hadn't had any luck thinking up a miracle to get themselves out of this mess. Not that she had any bright ideas either but he was the C.O of this little group which kinda obligated him to at least have the beginnings of a plan. After all they were supposed to be the best and brightest of the grunts since they would not have gotten the job if they were not. Shaking her head she knew she was not being fair to the old Autobot but quite frankly when her own spark was on the line it would help if the person in charge at least had two clues about how to do his job. 

Firing off another round of blasts to the incoming flyers she turned to Jazz and said "Sir with all due respect we have to get out of here and I mean **now**!"

"Great idea Lt.! Any ideas how?!" asked with a slightly sarcastic tone in his audio synthesizer.

"Other then rolling out of here like Unicron himself was on out tailpipes? No I don't sir but we're gonna get slagged if we stay here any longer!" she replied as both of them ducked under the overhang of the ditch to avoid enemy fire.

"Wouldn't work femme, they'd cut us down like a bunch of mindless battle drones!" , Jazz stated as a yet unseen shadow seemed to come over his features, "There is only one way for us to get out of this one in one peace and survive long enough to complete the mission."

Without waiting for her to ask what he meant by that he took what looked like a flare cartridge out of a hidden compartment and fastened it onto the end of his blaster. Aiming it directly into the sky he briefly motioned her to cover her optics before firing it into the sky. This was good thing since about five seconds after it was launched the cartridge detonated and let loose a blinding strobe of light that bathed everything in the immediate vicinity in a bright blue light. Already she could hear the sounds of the Decepticons yelling and cursing in pain as their optics were temporarily overloaded rendering them completely blind. Nightshade almost smiled at the move but knew it would grant them only a few moments of reprieve before the Decepticons reinitialized their optics and then the shooting would start all over again. At the moment she was as blind as the decepticons with her optics currently shut down but the rest of her senses worked just fine which made Jazzes next order significantly more unbelievable.

"Nightshade! Transform an lock your grappling hook onto my bumper, I'll lead us out of this mess!" Jazz declared as he gripped her arm firmly which clearly stated that she had no real say in the matter.

Pushing aside her rising concern for the others she did as she was told, transforming into her redone vehicle mode and with only a little difficulty fastening her grappling hook onto his rear bumper. No sooner was this completed then they both took off with their accelerators never leaving the floor and the sensors completely focused in front of them. It killed her not being able to see or sense what was happening to the others but she prayed that they had possessed enough common sense in their micro-brained heads to take advantage of the flare and break wind out of there. After all it would be suicide to stay behind and try to fight Megatron and his posse just by themselves because even with ol' buckethead's crew temporarily blinded it would only be a matter of time before they were destroyed in a straight confrontation. Certain that her comrades were not the type to commit suicide she turned her attention away from them and focused more on what was ahead of her. They would soon be reaching the edge of the field of light created by Jazz's flare and then she would be able to get a better look at the situation than merely deducing it.

Once clear of the light she brought her optics back online and turned them in the direction of the flare to see if she could perceive who might be winning. With a little bit of luck she might be able to see the S brothers streaking out of the light just light she was with Blur and Blaster doing the same, leaving the Decepticons with nothing more than some moderate wounds and a rather humiliating defeat. Unfortunately that was not the case as all that she saw coming from the light were a few stray blasts from weapons fire and the odd yell from an angry Megatron. Still despite their tardiness she expected they would be coming out soon, after all they had a mission to complete and she knew that Sunstreaker wouldn't want to miss a chance to stand in the spotlight. Just then she saw a black shape begin to emerge from the light and for a brief moment felt a wellspring of joy as she waited for a familiar ally to appear. Unfortunately the joy soon turned to fear as an enemy rather than an ally appeared, an enemy that could very well mean the end of the mission right then and there.

Megatron.

"You won't get away from me that easily Autobot scum!!" declares Megatron as he took aim with his fusion cannon.

"Dodge and weave Jazz!" Nightshade yelled as she disengaged her grappling hook and peeled immediately to the right, barely managing to avoid being hit dead on by the powerful blast. 

For the next few moments her concentration was consumed with trying to anticipate Megatron's next attack, pulling sharp turns and doubling back on her course so many times she was beginning to wonder if she was making any progress at all in getting to Iacon. Pulling up the data track map of Cybertron she saw that she was making virtually no progress at all, coming only meters closer to her goal instead of kilometers. Frustrated at this lack of accomplishment she looked back at the ball of light that confused and contained the other Decepticons and saw that it was beginning to fade. In a few more minutes Starscream and the others would be able to return to the battle and she would be right back where they had started from. Deciding that desperate times called for desperate measures she transformed into her flight mode and decided to take the fight to Megatron. She could hear a voice right in the back of her central processor telling her that this was suicide but right that moment she wasn't listening to that voice. Instead she was focusing on the voice that told her that unless she did this all the sacrifices she had made to get this far would be for nothing. The loss of Hot Rod, Angelfire, her very time for Primus' sake demanded that this mission succeed and she was not about to let some tin-headed dictator get in her way. Bringing her hood mounted laser gatling guns online she carefully took aim at her target, she would only get one chance at this. She was around sixty-five feet from Megatron when he decided to take his attention away from Jazz and focus it on her, bringing his fusion cannon to bear on her. She had to time this just right and pray she did not get vaped in the process of pulling off one of the most insane moves in resistance history.

"Foolish Autobot! Did you really think you could get the better of me?!" Megatron asked sarcastically as he casually braced his arm against the recoil he would receive from his fusion cannon.

NOW! she yelled to herself as she immediately cut her engines and Megatron fired his most powerful weapon.

The seconds seemed to tick by as she dropped, seeing the powerful blast inch towards her at a pace that she knew was merely an illusion. Seconds seemed light minutes as she used her forward maneuvering thrusters to push the front of her body upwards, never losing her targeting site on her target. Then, just as it seemed she was hesitating she opened fire and shot a full five second volley from her guns directly into Megatron's chest plate at point-blank range. His pain filled scream were music to her audio receptors as she ignited her primary engines and flew towards Jazz who was not even waiting for her to join him. Keeping one rear camera on Megatron she hastened her pace towards her commanding officer, hoping that they would be able to get out of sight before a counter-attack by the Decepticons could be attempted. Megatron wouldn't be firing any time soon but in the time it had taken her to deal with Megatron the flare's light had dimmed even more. It would now be mere seconds before it disappeared completely and the attack would resume with her team perhaps being at an even greater disadvantage than before. Looking at Jazz she could tell that he wasn't giving the other members of the team a second thought but was rather consumed with simply putting as much distance between himself and the Decepticons as possible.

"Commander! What about the others?" she asked with a tone in her voice that demanded an answer to her inquiry.

"Don't worry Lieutenant, they were told what to do if something like this came up." , Jazz replied as he continued to race along in the general direction of Iacon, "Just keep your throttle up and focus on getting to Iacon in one piece!"

Nightshade frowned in distaste at the order but reluctantly agreed that their mission was the priority here rather than her teammates. Besides the commander had said that the others had a getaway planned in case the 'Cons caught up with them so she was sure that she would see Sunstreaker and the others later at Wheeljack's lab. Pouring on the speed as ordered she kept most of her attention on the destination ahead but still kept at least one of her rear camera's on the rest of the team in the hopes that she would be able to confirm that they had gotten away. For about three minutes it looked like everything was going to work out just fine but then she saw Megatron turning towards them and raising his fusion cannon towards them. For the most part the odds were against Megatron actually hitting them at all since his cannon was designed for short range firing rather than long range shots but it still motivated her to push her engines a little harder. As the seconds ticked by she waited for the sounds of the blast that would come and possibly slam into her and cause her to crash to the ground in excruciating pain. She prayed that at least she wouldn't die in vain and that Jazz would be able to accomplish the mission because in the end analysis that was the only thing that mattered. After all the success of the mission was the only thing that could make all of the sacrifices she had made so far seem worth it and she'd be damned if she'd let anything get in the way of making this a success.

Unfortunately she was about to find out the hard way that challenging Fate was never a wise thing to do.

Looking down at the remaining Autobots writhing in pain one would think that Megatron would be pleased that he had been successful in stopping a group of his hated enemies from getting away. Unfortunately this was not the case because the transformer that Megatron had the most reason to hate at that moment was not among the pile of barely functioning Autobots. Scanning the immediate area it didn't take him long to spot the two metal shapes racing away from the scene towards Iacon with the focus of his anger bringing up the rear. His anger soared for a brief moment as he touched the blackened holes in his chest plate that the female Autobot had made moments earlier. He was not seriously damaged but to think that a inferior weakling of an Autobot had outfought him and was now racing away to tell her comrades how she had humiliated him was infuriating. With determination in his eyes he raised his fusion cannon and took aim at the retreating form of the symbol of his rage, certain that he would not miss.

"No one defies Megatron and lives Autobot!" , he declared with a sadistic smile, "Give my regards to the Inferno!"

"G-give t-them yourself….. buckethead!" came a cracked voice behind him.

Turning to see which of the defeated Autobots had the gall to interrupt him in his moment of revenge his eyes grew wide in surprise. One Autobot who seemed of a similar configuration to Soundwave was looking at him with a victorious smile on his face and one need only look at what he was holding in his right hand to see why. In half a second all thoughts about revenge disappeared from Megatron's mind as he immediately began to run away as fast as his feet could carry him. He cursed the female Autobot one final time as her attack had done him the inconvenience of disabling his jet pack and thus depriving him of the quickest means of escape. Behind him he could hear the rest of his troops issuing similar exclamations of surprise as they tried to escape what was coming.

Unfortunately as the last few remaining seconds of life ticked away his body went slack and his grip on the thermal grenade gave way allowing the device to fulfill it's singular purpose.

Nightshade was surprised when she saw all the 'Cons suddenly turn tail and run away from the scene of the battle but that surprise quickly turned to horror as a large explosion exploded outwards. The flames expanded in every direction, engulfing everyone in it's path in a cloud of ignited plasma and leaving no doubt as to it's strength. The explosion however was not what claimed her attention at that moment but rather the prone warriors that she knew had been at the center of that blast when it had gone off. She couldn't believe what she had just seen, Jazz had just moments earlier that they had an escape plan all worked out just in case something like this were to happen. What had gone wrong? Had the 'Cons decided to end things quickly and just blow the others up or had Blurr's quick hands slipped up and dropped a thermal grenade? So many questions were rolling around in her mind that she almost didn't notice the sudden increase in heat all of a sudden. Looking immediately in the direction she felt that the heat was coming from she was suddenly struck with fear as she saw an avalanche of hungry fire roaring towards her at an incredible rate of speed.

Where the slaggin' hell did that come from? , she thought for a moment before she remembered what had happened and where they were right now, Oh **slag**!

With this though she began to push her rockets past their tolerances in the hopes of gaining more speed with which to avoid being engulfed in a fiery painful death. It didn't matter that deep down she knew her chances of outrunning the flames were practically nil, all she knew was that if she did not get the lead out she was going to be one well-done transformer. Racing along as fast as she was she could already hear just about every warning beep her body had screaming at her and telling her that she was pushing her body too hard. Her engine was just about five cycles away from overheating and she could already feel the sides of her jets beginning to turn red due to the heat. Despite these warnings she kept pushing her engine harder, trying to squeeze every last bit of speed she could out of them on the slim chance that she might be able to make it out of this predicament in one piece with all parts intact. Unfortunately for her there was an all consuming ball of flame charging up behind her that seemed as determined as ever to swallow her whole whether she wanted to be eaten or not. Up ahead of her she could see that Jazz was working just as hard to try and keep ahead of the blast but at the same time keep close enough to lend a hand if she needed it.

"Nightshade! You're going to overheat if you keep pushing your engines this hard!" , Jazz yelled at her over the com-link, "Attach your grappling hook to my rear bumper and I'll take some of the strain off!"

Seeing that such an order made some sense she did as she was told and fired her grappling hook which had the good fortune of latching onto Jazz on the first try. Once this was done Jazz began to speed up, adding his power to her own, and taking a fair bit of the pressure off her systems. Oh there were still a multitude of warning beeps echoing inside of her but at least now they were not telling her that she was about to implode due to the strain. That however did little to comfort her as she could see and feel the flaming acidic waste flying towards them and gaining inch by inch as the seconds passed. Even with Jazz's superior engine power and experience their chances of getting out of this alive seemed to be disappearing about as fast as the unlit waste in the ditch was. Frantically she scanned the are with her sensors, looking for something that could save them both from a fiery death out in the middle of no where. Unfortunately being out in the middle of no where generally meant that there was **nothing** at all and thus the chances of finding anything useful was practically nil. As the flames got closer and closer she could feel the special coating Rachet had put on her to protect her from the acidic fumes of the sewer waste beginning to melt and drip off onto the ground. For all intents and purposes it looked like she was going to find out if transformers who died really did join one massive spark in the great beyond. Too bad she wasn't going to be able to come back to tell anyone about it.

"We're not going to make it!!" she exclaimed with fear beginning to creep into her usually professional tone of voice.

For a moment Jazz said nothing, as if he were pondering some great manner of importance and had to weigh the variables fully before coming to a decision. Then almost without warning his propulsion jets began to burn hotter and harder than they had the entire mission with no sign of stopping at all. Nightshade was at a loss for what her commander was doing, worried that the failure of the mission and his own impending doom had finally crashed his primary systems causing him to go completely random. Not that she could entirely blame him since her core systems weren't very far from going there either but still she never expected someone with as many years of experience in battle to go like this. Just then her com-link came online with the monitor indicating that the signal was coming from Jazz but also that nothing was coming through.

Then that changed as Jazz said, "Looks like this is it Nightshade. I just want you to know that I've always been proud to have you in my squad."

"What are yo….!?" Nightshade began to ask but then it clicked in her mind what was about to happen.

Sadly she would have no time to act as half a second later Jazz transformed before her and after grabbing hold of her grappling line slung her high and far into star filled sky. For a moment she simply allowed herself to go limp as she processed what Jazz had just done and what it had cost him in the process. By pushing both of their propulsion engines past safety tolerances they had accelerated to speeds common only to those transformers with flying modes. Unfortunately that was mostly because only flyers were outfitted with special components that could handle the strain and when most land based transformers attempted to reach these speeds their engines usually gave out due to the strain. Even if she and Jazz had been able to maintain that level of acceleration neither of them alone would have been able to outrun the flames that had been coming up behind them. Thus by pushing his engines past any reasonable levels and then slinging her over his shoulder like that he was more or less transferring the speed he had managed to generate to her and giving her twice the acceleration she had possessed before.

B-b-but by giving me his speed he's virtually at a complete stop! , she thought to herself in a stunned frame of mind, There's no way he can build up enough speed to beat the heat wave now!

Looking down at the transformer who had quite possibly saved her life she could see a calm resignation on his face, a kind of acceptance that this was the end and that he had no regrets about the choices he had made. Jazz looked up at her and with a smile gave her a thumbs up before the flames engulfed him causing him to disappear from view. She stared down in shock at what had just happened and even though her heart fought to reject the thought she knew in her mind that she was now alone. She, Lt. Nightshade of the resistance cell phoenix, was now the sole survivor of the team of transformers sent to change history for the better. One by one the faces of her teammates drifted by her optics, memories of the good times that they had experienced together and the tragedies they had all endured. Her spark ached as each of them passed by, flickering in pain knowing that she would never hear Blurr's rapid fire talking again or listen to one of the S brothers complain about a scratch on their paint job. All of them were gone and it was almost more than she could bear, her heart cried out to be allowed to join them on the other side and embrace the darkness herself. It must have been a stroke of luck because with the ferocity of a plasma storm fate seemed to grant her the request as all at once the wall of flame slammed into her back with the force of a decepticon battle fleet. All about her the flames licked and scorched her body, melting the colors from her body and beginning to turn the metal that made up her armor a bright and almost glowing red. She was only cognizant of these facts on a peripheral level for at that time all she could think and all she could feel was pain. Only once before had she ever felt such pain engulf her being and she had thought at the time with absolute certainty that she would never have to worry about feeling it again.

M-m-man, I h-hate being wrong!! Nightshade thought to herself, exerting as much effort in forming it as a Decepticon would be required to use to tell the whole truth.

Little by little she could feel the metal being torn from her frame as the material began to warp, melt and otherwise lose it's hold on her inner structure. They were like leaves being blown from a branch during a terrible storm, leaving their hope with no chance for returning or even finding a new one. Those that remained provided poor protection against the heat for her internal components that they had been designed and meant to protect. It felt as though some Decepticon foe that she had faced in the past was pouring hydrochloric acid into her shell in zero-G gravity for it did not move swiftly in one direction but rather seemed to linger in some places for longer periods of time. She knew in some vague sense that this merely meant that they were encountering the special forms of protection that kept her key systems relatively protected. Those guarding seals would not last long though against this searing heat, sooner or later they would surrender and her spark would be extinguished before she even realized what had happened to it. All that would remain of her in this wasteland would be a blackened, melted husk with absolutely no resemblance to anything that could have been called living. In the end one of two things would happen, she would either be used for scrap metal or she would be buried underneath other warriors who met their end here. In both cases no one would stop to consider who she might have been, what her mission had been or that if she had only survived they might have an entirely new future to create. She would merely be forgotten and the hopes of all those she had left behind, all those who had been counting on her would have been in vain.

All of a sudden the unbearable heat which she had almost come to accept as a constant for her few remaining moments of life disappeared and in it's place there was an empty void completely lacking in sensation. Nightshade though was given no free moment to contemplate her new state of existence as she immediately came into contact with something hard and immovable which blocked her current flight path. She came to know this not via any information her systems would usually be providing her but rather from the way all her thoughts seemed to fly into disarray with a suddenness that could only be good ol' terra firma. For who knows how long her mind was a useless jumble of information, nothing coherent nor understandable, which made it impossible to form anything resembling thought or purpose. It wasn't until one image flashed across her field of perception, an image of Jazz giving her the thumbs up, that what remained of her consciousness began to fight to piece her mind back together. He had entrusted to her the fate of the future and she was not going to let something as temporary as a systems glitch stop her from completing her mission. However for all her effort and all her determination she just could not seem to bring her mind completely back into coherent focus. Instead her efforts seemed only to make things even worse, causing things to fall into even greater disarray than it had been in before.

T-this calls … for a … new approach Nightshade thought to herself with some frustration as she ceased her attempts to recompile her mind.

Thus instead of attempting to bring her entire mind into focus she tried to bring only two or three portions into order, hoping that through them she could get the rest into some semblance of working order. She would have cheered if she had been able as she watched the sections she had chosen slowly begin to come into focus and order. It took almost every ounce of will she had to complete her task but eventually the systems she had selected were back in some semblance of working order. Unfortunately it was not a pleasant sight which greeted her but she convinced herself somehow that she could work with this mess and that there was still some hope left worth holding onto for a little while longer. However whatever she planned to do had to be done quickly because with every passing second all three systems were beginning to degrade. If she did not act soon what little chance she had for survival would be snuffed out and all that would be left for her to do was to lay there and die.

B-better g-get started then. , she thought to herself she forced her systems to accept her decision, Nanobot repair systems online. Reconstruction of key systems commence … Now!!

With that she surrendered herself to the blackness of unconsciousness and awaited her onboard computer's signal that the task was completed.


	5. Second Chances

"A Fracture in Time" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: rybreen@theberries.ns.ca

**_200 feet south of the Sewage Gutters, Cybertron, 2 hours later_**

**__**

**__**

**__**

[self-repair cycle complete. Reinitialize primary systems]

With a start Nightshade was thrown back into consciousness and found herself only marginally in better condition than what she had been when she had begun repairs. The only real improvement on the previous situation was the fact that she could now see clearly and for the most part didn't shake like leaf whenever she tried to move. Aside from that though she was still a fitting recruit for the nearest scrap heap and might just wind up there unless she got really lucky in the next couple of hours. After watching the last of the status reports fly by her field of vision she decided to make a visual estimation of the damage to see what exactly she had to work with. Slowly and with extreme caution she rolled over onto her back, taking special care not to jostle anything or add to the damage she had already sustained. However as she sat up and looked at herself she sincerely doubted that she could be in any worse shape than she already was in right at that moment.

Man I look like scrap! she thought to herself with a little bit of morbid humor in her words.

For the most part she was completely black now, almost all the armor and outer covering that remained had been turned pitch black by the intense heat she had been forced to endure. The worst of it though had to be her left arm and her right leg since the former was reduced to a barely functioning metal skeleton of it's former self and the latter was gone completely from the knee down. The rest of the noticeable injuries were merely a few holes in her armor and more than a few melted wires of which half were barely doing their jobs at the moment. Still she supposed that it could have been a slaggin' helluva lot worse and at least she stood a small chance of making it out of this alive. After all, the others had been a lot more experienced and they hadn't made it at all. She froze as the realization of her predicament came back to her and she couldn't help but look at the situation in a far more depressing light then she had before. She was alone. It was the one unalterable fact that dominated her thoughts and caused her spark to lose a bit of its glittering glow. Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Blurr, Blaster and Jazz were now all gone, cast into the abyss of death with virtually no hope of ever returning from their fate. She still could not believe what had happened, how the others had been consumed by the blast of the thermite grenade and how Jazz had sacrificed himself to make sure that she would survive. Why had he done it? He was the **leader** for cryin' out loud! It was his job to make sure that the mission succeeded no matter what it took and no matter who he had to sacrifice! Why did he even try to save her? She was only a lowly lieutenant who had only six years of experience to her name and had done nothing but shined him on past missions together. 

Heh, maybe I should just slag myself now and ask him why he did it when I meet him on the other side. she thought to herself as she brought one of her particle blasters out from subspace and looked at it as one might look at one oddity or another.

Now that would be a waste of a perfectly good femme Nightshade. came a voice jokingly inside her head.

She dropped her blaster in shock as she looked around quickly for the source of the voice, unsure of what she had heard or whether or not it was real. She could see no one else in the immediate range of her optics but unfortunately they could be hiding behind some debris with blasters drawn. Normally when this was the case she would simply flick on her sensors and scan the area for the energy signature of the 'bot in question but that was impossible at the moment since only her passive perimeter sensors were functional. Still there was one possibility which seemed far more likely and that was the chance that she was indeed hearing things and would probably be seeing soon images of Alpha Trion reaching for her. The old 'bot had been something of a religious figure among the Autobots that had come to Earth and many of them claimed to have actually seen him when they had come close to going offline for good. She of course didn't really believe in such things and attributed these sightings simply to a breakdown in the Autobot's data track processing unit. For her the only thing waiting for her on the other side was the cold nothingness of oblivion where all things simply ceased to be. After all if such a place as the matrix really did exist she doubted that things would have turned out as bad as they did back in the future that she had come from.

Just because you don't see the hand of God doesn't mean it isn't there girl! said the voice again in a tone of voice that reminded her of a human priest taking to a child.

She **hated** that tone of voice and made that clear when she yelled "What the slaggin' hell do you know about God?! Who are you!!??!"

C'mon Nightshade, don't tell me you've forgotten about your knight in melted armor already! the voice said in amusement which had a familiar ring to it.

"Jazz!?!" Nightshade exclaimed in disbelief as she began whipping her head around a little too hard and could feel a few neck servos whir in protest.

The one and only femme bot! Jazz replied sarcastically in a way that left no doubt in her mind that where ever he was a smile was on his face.

"Where are you? I'll come to get you right away!" she declared as she looked around for something to help her walk better.

No need to rush. I don't think I'll be going anywhere. Jazz replied in a slightly somber tone that seemed wrong for the usually laid back transformer.

It took Nightshade a few moments but finally she managed to find a length of tritanium pipe that had been dislodged in the blast. Using it as a makeshift replacement for her right leg she leaned heavily on it and forced herself to stand up more or less straight. Now that she had put some weight on it she was able to see better what condition her left leg was actually in and how far she was likely to get on it. It wasn't pretty but it seemed to be able to hold enough of her weight without wobbling much so long as she kept the bulk of it on the pipe. Despite this fragile appendage she was pleased with the repairs her nanobots had managed to do with so little to work with and so much to do before their jobs were done. This did not mean that she could avoid breaking into a med-bay once she had Jazz got to Iacon but at least they would be able to get to Iacon in the first place. Looking around she tried to find where the explosion had thrown him so she could get there and lend him a hand. From the way he had been talking he was probably pinned down under some wreckage and couldn't move which was why he needed her to come to the rescue instead of the other way around. 

Where **are** you Jazz? she thought to herself as her visual search seemed to be in vain.

O-over h-here! F-follow the bouncing l-light ball! Jazz replied in a way that made her think that whatever he was going to do required quite bit of effort.

Then something happened that was almost more than she could handle as well as something that she would remember for the rest of her existence. All at once her optics seemed to become enhanced by an unusual light, a white light that was like nothing she had ever seen before in all her years in the resistance. For a few moments it blinded her and she could see nothing else, but then it seemed to streak out from her eyes a converge a few feet in front of her to form a nimbus of light. She was in awe of the sight, so much so that it caught her completely off guard when it suddenly shot off in the direction of the sewage gutters. Shaking herself back to reality she hobbled after it as fast as she could without ruining her one functional leg. As the ball of light reaching the edge of the gutter it seemed to hover there for a moment before dropping like a rock over the right side of the edge. It took her a few moments to catch up with it but when she did she feverantly wished she had never even asked the question that had brought her to that spot.

Do I r-really look that b-bad? Jazz's voice asked once more inside her head.

Looking down into the gutter it was easy to guess why Jazz was talking to her telepathically rather than using the usual com-link or his voice synthesizer. His entire body from the chest down was completely gone and only his right arm seemed even minimally functional though that was merely a guess since it wasn't moving. As for what was above the chest it was a mess of torn armor, scorch marks and exposed wiring that made him look like he definitely belonged on the scrap heap. That however wasn't what shocked her the most though, it was the face that she was sure was going to give her nightmares for weeks. All the face plating that had given him an even remotely human looking face had been peeled away and what was left was a montage of wires and metal frames that reminded her of a human skeleton. It scared her almost to the point where she had to look away but she knew that would only hurt Jazz even more than he was already. Slowly and carefully she lowered herself down into the gutter with him, she wasn't sure exactly why but she wanted to be there for him in what looked like his last hours. A part of her stridently opposed that idea, demanded that she pick him up and get him to a med facility in Iacon before it was too late but her cold and logical side told her that it was already too late.

Kneeling down next to him she asked furiously "Why'd you do it Jazz?! You had a mission to carry out!!"

I-I did it b-because I was never supposed to be the one to carry out the mission in the first place. Jazz replied as the strain on the effort seemed to be decreasing.

"What!? What do you mean by that!?!?!" she demanded, almost grabbing him by his one remaining arm to give him a good shake.

Look Nightshade, I don't have a whole lot of time left so I'm just gonna lay it all out for you , Jazz replied in a solemn tone reserved for confessions, Project Gateway was started a lot longer than you had been led to believe, almost to the day that Ironhide became the leader of the Autobots. Within three years of it's conception the gateway had been fully completed and ready for its first test drive with it's first team of volunteers ready and waiting. After a little fine tuning to increase accuracy and stability we had a working time portal that could take a team back and hopefully change the past.

Unfortunately things didn't turn out that way. , Jazz explained with about as much emotion as a toaster, The tech boys expected that the change in the timeline would be instantaneous, that we would vanish the instant the team stepped through the portal. When that didn't happen every scientist involved was given the task of finding out what went wrong. They didn't get their answer until Kup scanned the historical data tracks and found reports than indicated that the team had been destroyed just a little ways into the mission by a Decepticon patrol.

With this knowledge the top brass decided to change the outline of the mission in the hopes of ensuring that the Decepticon patrol did not discover the strike team. Once the changes were in place they sent a second team through the portal but once again nothing happened to the timeline and they were still the same as they were beforehand. For the next few years they went through this over and over again hoping that with each change in the mission profile they would finally succeed in their mission.

Jazz seemed to take a moment to catch his breath but she knew for a fact that it was energon he was beginning to run low on rather than air. She started to lean forward to try and help him but he shook his head as much as he could and stopped her. It was clear that he was determined to finish his explanation before he would allow her to do anything at all.

Nothing did change though, every team that was sent through the portal was eventually destroyed at some point during the first phase of the mission. , Jazz said as he continued to explain matters to her, For a long while they couldn't figure out why the teams were making such poor progress and morale started to take a plunge. Then something strange happened while a technician was scanning through the historical data tracks and it changed the situation for the better. He began to see ghost images on some of the view visuals that were included in the various reports but the images were of team members that had not yet been sent.

At first it was thought that it was just the technician's imagination but eventually after careful study it was determined that the extended use of the gateway was having a curious effect on the base itself. Slowly but surely sensors were showing that the base was sliding out of temporal synch with the rest of the world around it, that it was fading into subspace. Thus it was theorized that due to this change in temporal state the base and all the systems contained therein were merging with the space/time continuum but at a rate so slow it was barely noticeable. While at first worried by the sudden turn of events they eventually saw this as a godsend from the matrix itself because now they could literally see the consequences of their actions ahead of time. From there they believed that it was only a matter of time before they could plan out the mission to perfection with just the right agents doing just the right thing.

However matters didn't prove to be as simple as that. , Jazz stated as he continued his monologue of the past, Even with the time necessary to get everything completely perfect the scans of the past showed that the team would get no further than about where Megatron ambushed us earlier.

"If the higher ups knew that this wasn't going to work then why did they bother to send us at all?!" Nightshade asked as she momentarily thought of her friends who had died in vain to ensure that she went on a mission that was doomed from the beginning.

The difference this time was that up until six months ago they had been considering only Autobots for the team and leaving people like you and Angelfire out of the running. , replied Jazz as he continued his explanation, It was thought that the mission would be more likely to succeed if the operatives that were sent there had some actual knowledge of the area and the time period itself. Heh, in a way your assignment to the team was something of an accident. Apparently when the list of names was sent to the technician in charge of temporal projections your name was accidentally included in someone else's place.

"What!?" Nightshade exclaimed with a mixture of surprise and resentment.

Hahahahaha! That was basically what Dr. Chase thought when he read the results of the temporal scan but even he couldn't argue with the results. declared Jazz with a bit of mirth in his voice.

"What results?!" demanded Nightshade as she tried to keep up with the story despite all the unusual twists and turns that showed up.

The readings themselves were a complete mess, almost indecipherable, but that was what was so encouraging. , Jazz replied with amusement clearly remaining in his mind, In all other cases the results were completely straight forward, either the team made it so far or didn't, but in your case there was no clear answer. It was the first real spot of sunshine they had seen for a long while but the big bots in charge wanted a more definite answer given the nature of the mission so the testing continued as usual. Nothing changed though, the teams drafted for the mission still did not manage to get any closer to Iacon before they were scrapped by Megatron. So they had no choice but to go with the team that looked the most promising but that gave no guarantee that it would succeed.

"Great! Not only am I sent on a mission that is quite possibly doomed from the beginning but I'm only on the mission because I screw up someone's calculations!" Nightshade declared sharply with a frown as she mentally pictured having a few strong words with the top brass even though she knew that it was impossible. 

Hey, how do you think I felt when they gave me the 411 on the mission!? , Jazz stated with an equally wounded voice, The fact of the matter is that our team stood the best chance and that's why Ironhide and the others chose us for this mission.

"Then why didn't you order Blurr and the others to come with us?! They didn't have to stay behind and get slagged by the 'Cons!" demanded Nightshade as she struggled to understand the thinking of her superiors.

Because the council determined that trying to get the entire team through the mission would be near impossible. With so many 'Con's coming after us they believed the most they could hope for was for two people to get away while the rest stayed behind., replied Jazz with fatigue beginning to creep into his voice, The only decision that had to be made was who those two bots would be and why. In the end it came to the two of us, you for the chaos factor created by your presence and me because of my familiarity with the planet itself.

"Then why did you sacrifice yourself for me? Wouldn't someone with knowledge of the time and place have a better chance of succeeding than someone who has only seen Cybertron in data tracs before now?" she asked in a tone that absolutely demanded a straight answer.

Strategically you're right, I would have been the most logical one to survive to ensure the mission's success but the truth of the matter is , Jazz replied with what could have been seen as a mournful look on his face, I didn't want survive….I wanted to die here.

Shocked almost beyond words Nighthsade could only say "Why?"

Nightshade I've been fightin' this war for centuries, I've seen a lot of friends die right before my eyes. Some I might've been able to save and others I couldn't do a thing about. , Jazz replied in a confessional tone, The only thing that kept me going was the spark of hope inside of me that told me there was still a chance that everything would turn out all right. That spark has been gone a long while now, ever since we lost the Ark to the Decepticons. I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm tired femme, I want to rest now.

Nightshade could only look at her former commander with shock and more than a little disbelief. Ever since she had first joined the war Autobots had always seemed to calm and casual about their war with the Decepticons, it wasn't something they liked but it was something they had come to accept. More often then she would like to admit it had been the Autobots who had motivated her to continue on fighting when for a moment she just felt like laying down and letting the end come. To find one of their best, a 'bot that she had always admired and respected, ready to just fade away to join the matrix was something that was almost more than she could handle. The worst part of it was that there was nothing she could do about it, he was dying and all she could do was just sit there and watch. Unfortunately there was one matter that she had to settle with him before she could let him go, on answer that she had to wring out of him even if she had to do it with her own two hands.

"How will I complete the mission without you? Given the kind of luck we've had so far I'm bound to run into Autobots eventually and they're going to want answers." she said as she explained her dilemma to him.

Just tell them the truth. Always worked for me. Jazz replied briefly in a lower voice than before.

"Yeah Right!! In case you've forgotten I'm an anomaly here, they're not gonna believe some femme just because she says she's telling the truth!" , Night exclaimed sarcastically as she gave him her best 'Yeah-and-I've-got-a-bridge-to-sell-you' look even though he couldn't see her, "They're probably gonna lock me up as a spy or send me back to Megatron as scrap metal!"

Don't w-worry. The big 'bots came up with a plan for that too. Jazz replied with moderate effort.

Reaching up with his only remaining arm he shakily wave his hand twice over the charred Autobot insignia on his chest before letting it drop back down to his side. Suddenly the scarlet insignia began to glow a bright red, as bright as any set of optics she had ever seen, before his upper chest plate began to open up. From within came a ethereal white light that seemed to stretch out into the sky, as if it wanted to join the other stars that shined above. It wasn't until the chest plate had finished opening that she saw the source of the white light and almost fell over right then and there. She was in awe, few transformers had ever actually seen this object and even fewer were close enough to touch it with own fingers. It was reveled only when the it's bearer was close to death and was required to pass it on to one who was worthy enough. She looked at Jazz's face in the hopes that h would give some sign as to what he was trying to say but he seemed to content to simply lay there and wait for her reaction.

"I-I-is that the…creation matrix?" she asked barely above a whisper.

Yes, it is. It is the symbol of leadership for the Autobots. , Jazz answered in her head with a voice barely louder than her own, There was only one ever made. If nothing else that you say will convince the Autobots that you are trustworthy this will. 

The logic of the decision was perfectly clear to her but that didn't stop her from being overwhelmed by what Jazz was proposing at this very moment. The creation matrix was like the holy grail was to the humans, an object of extreme importance that was only bestowed on the most worthy individuals at a time when its previous owner could no longer keep it. The question that kept flying around in her mind was 'am I worthy enough?' and the answer that kept on appearing was a resounding **NO**. After all she was just a lowly lieutenant with only a few years of experience under her chassis and absolutely no right to receive a gift of such high value. What could Jazz have been thinking!? Now more than ever she was sure that her commander had made a mistake by saving her from the wall of flame that had led him to his death. He should be the one to continue on with the mission rather than her. She didn't care that he was tired from all the fighting or that he didn't want to be reminded of the way things were once upon a time on Cybertron. All that mattered to her was try and come up with some kind of good reason why she should decline accepting the creation matrix without getting into some big argument with her friend.

"Jazz, I can't take this from you." , she stated as she tried to organize her thoughts, "There's no way that my systems are designed to handle something that powerful and I don't even have the proper chest interface for it."

A-already taken care o-of femme. , Jazz replied with more effort in his words then there ought to be, Open up your chest plate and take a l-look for yourself.

Stunned at what he was implying she reached up with her right hand and deactivated the locking mechanism that kept her insides from spilling out every time she was hit hard by enemy fire. Much like the Jazz's insignia hers glowed a bright red before slowly opening up to reveal the surprise that was waiting for her inside. Her jaw servos must have failed completely because her jaw dropped almost all the way to the ground when she saw the almost oval interface before her with her spark pulsing deep within. Rachet must have done this back at Phoenix HQ when he was modifying her systems for travel on Cybertron and vaguely she could remember a moment when he had taken her offline for the more extensive upgrades. For a brief moment she felt extremely violated, that the Autobot surgeon had done this without her knowledge or permission and not said a word about it afterwards! The fortunately her logic circuits came back online and she admitted that if the red and white transformer **had** informed her ahead of time she probably would have said no and blown the whole mission. She still didn't like it and the fact that Jazz was now expecting her to put this covert alteration to use made her even more reluctant towards accepting the creation matrix.

I know this isn't exactly what you had in mind when you signed on for this mission Nightshade but the top brass wouldn't have even told you about it if they didn't think you had the right stuff. , Jazz declared in a beseeching manner, Please femme, you have the hopes and dreams of hundreds of living beings riding on this mission!

"B-but what if I screw up!?" Nightshade asked, taken aback by the almost pleading tone in her friend's voice.

You won't fail femme 'bot. , Jazz replied as he sent feelings of confidence and pride through to her, I-I've never told you this before Nightshade but I've always been proud to have you under my command. With all the stunts you pulled and the near misses you managed to walk away from I kinda felt like I was back in the good ol' days when me and my Autopals could afford to think of things other than war.

This mission just seemed to be one surprise after another and Nightshade was beginning to wonder if things were gonna get any more interesting before they calmed down. The thought that **her** Commander Jazz was actually **proud** of her was almost more than her CPU could handle right at that particular moment. At the same time though it filled her with a certain stability, a patch of solid terra firma that up until now had been completely absent on this mission. With that foundation to hold onto she was able to fully realize what fate was demanding of her and what everyone she had ever known had faith that she would be able to accomplish. With this a newfound swell of confidence and determination solidified in her spark leaving absolutely no doubt in her mind that she **would** succeed in her mission no matter what the cost. If she had to walk through the fires of the Inferno she would succeed, if she had to face down an entire Decepticon fleet she would succeed and if it was necessary for her to become the next host of the creation matrix then so be it!

"I hereby accept the mission commander." , Nightshade declared in a crisp military style tone of voice, "I will **not** let you and the others down!"

I-I-I know y-you won't f-femme. Jazz said as it was clear he was mere moments away from his final moment.

Almost automatically at the conclusion of his words the interface in his chest beeped and the creation matrix rose from it's housing until it was it was just barely resting at the top. Reaching out with her arms Nightshade could almost feel a chill rush through her body as she began to truly accept what was about to happen in just a few moments. For a moment a rush of uncertainty flew around her mind and second thoughts seemed to drown out any form of rational or coherent thought that was present. It was only momentary as the feelings of determination that had made up her mind before banished those thoughts from her mind leaving only the importance of the mission. Taking up the matrix in both hands she just looked at it for a moment, looked at the collection of light that flew around in the middle, almost swearing that for a brief moment that the light had glowed extra bright just for her. Deciding to get it over with before anything else could happen she immediately brought it up to the interface and pushed it inwards. Small grasping arms grabbed it the moment it came within a millimeter of the interface and guided it the rest of the way in without her help. She was almost disappointed when nothing happened and wondered where was the flashy light and surge of knowledge that an event like this was supposed to invoke. 

She would later remark that some 'bots should be careful what they wish for.

In the exact moment when the energy of the matrix and her spark came into contact she felt like she was going to explode from the inside out. All at once her mind was overwhelmed with images and information that she knew could in no way belong to her since it consisted of several unflattering comments about her methods. It was like no other experience that she had endured in her entire life and was in awe of what was happening to her, all the changes that she could feel taking place. It wasn't just her mind that was being remade, she could also feel areas of her body begin to reform themselves and be enhanced past what she had possessed before. This however she was only aware of peripherally amid the maelstrom of memories that flew about her mind as it reorganized itself to accommodate the new bits of data now present therein. For a moment she was afraid that Rachet back at HQ had miscalculated something because she felt as though she was going to fly apart at the seams at any moment. Then, just as suddenly as it had come, the disorientation brought about by the incorporation of the matrix into her body vanished and in it's place was a sense of new strength and confidence. However as she looked down at her physical form she could see that those qualities were only in her mind as she still looked fit for the nearest scrap heap.

Great. All that knowledge and they couldn't even throw in a free repair job. she thought to herself with mild humor as she returned her attention to her dying friend.

"Don't worry Jazz old friend. Leave everything to me." Nightshade declared solemnly as she watched the glow of his spark begin to fade out of existence. 

I… know you will femme 'bot. , Jazz replied in a voice that was barely audible in her mind, 'Til all are one Nightshade…….

"Until all are one my friend." She replied as the last remnants of the once brave warrior's spark disappeared entirely.

Bringing herself completely to her feet she stood as best she could at attention and raised her one good hand in a firm salute as a sign of respect. She would miss him but right now she knew that she had more important things to do than wallow in her own misery over his departure from life. Hoisting herself out of the ditch she brought her navigational array online along with the necessary data tracs concerning this region of Cybertron. It took her only a cycle to figure out where she was and which direction she had to go in to get to Iacon in time to complete the next phase of her mission. She had plenty of time since the launch of the Ark wasn't until tomorrow evening but she knew she would need every second she could get to get aboard without being seen. Putting the bent piece of pipe underneath her right arm she began to hobble towards her destination with the certain knowledge that she would get there 'come hell or high water' as human at Phoenix cell once said.

**_2 and a half hours later, Somewhere on Cybertron_**

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One of these d-days I'm gonna h-have to w-watch what I t-think. , Nightshade thought to herself as she forced her servos to do as she ordered them to do, Y-you never know w-who might be …listening in.

She had been hobbling along at a snail's pace for over two hours and now remembered one little detail that she had forgotten to consider when she had made her determination to reach Iacon known. When she had initially heard Jazz and gone off to find him she had only half a tank of energon left to her name and a crack on the side of that tank that her systems had only partially sealed up. She had hoped that with the majority of the damage repaired that she would be able to make every drop last since it was just enough to get her inside Iacon City. Unfortunately she had failed to take into account the fact that there might be a few holes on her energon distribution tubes which would cause the energon to leak out out all over her and cut the time she'd remain functional in half. Already she had been forced to take virtually all her other systems offline except for optics, motor control and life support. It was those systems that gave her the best chance of coming out of this mess in one piece but diverting power to those systems had only marginally delayed exhaustion of the energon and she was beginning to feel the drain. Already her movements were becoming sluggish and more than once in the past few minutes she had been forced to shake her head a little bit to get her optics back online. If she had been any other bot she probably would have just sat down and tried to conserve power while sending out a constant distress beacon but given that her mission called for stealth she wasn't about to try it.

C-computor…time until complete energon depletion? she asked mentally since she had taken her voice synthesizer offline.

[Time until complete shutdown eight point zero five cycles.]

Great! A w-whole eight minutes to c-c-contemplate my fate! she thought to herself with a sneer as she continued to trod along in the general direction of Iacon City.

No more than ten minutes later she came to a steep decline that seemed to level out onto what might have once been some kind of street although she couldn't tell for certain with her optics operating at minimum capacity. Trying to be careful she decided to try and slide down the slope on her skidplate since she wasn't stupid enough to think that her one leg would be able to handle taking her down. True it wouldn't be the most dignified position for a resistance soldier but then again there wasn't anyone around to see her so who really gave a slag. She was almost all the way down when the edge of the slope that she stood on gave way causing her to slip and tumble head first down to the street ending with her lying face down on the street. She grimaced for a second as she tried to keep her few remaining systems from flickering offline but it seemed as though this was it, her final moment before the big fade. The thought of her failing in her mission temporarily bolstered her as she tried to use her rage and determination to get to her feet but her limbs wouldn't listen. She wanted to pound the ground in frustration, to scream every curse she knew at the injustice of it all, but all she could do was lay there as the end approached her. Just then a spark of hope seemed to brighten her mind, a vague idea that somehow seemed to give her the strength to hang-on a little while longer. Forcing her circuits to obey her she rerouted power away from motor functions and optics and rechanneled it into the system she needed functional most of all. Then, just as the last of the diverted energy seemed to dwindle she sent the distress call in the form of one single word.

Help.


	6. The Femmes

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"A Fracture in Time:Chapter 1" By Ryley Breen AKA Shadow Master

email: rybreen@theberries.ns.ca

Note: Hi all! Sorry it has been so long since I have last posted a new chapter for this story but the truth of the matter is that I have been **WAY** busy with my new job at the local grocery store. I work an average of 30 hours a week and when I get home I just want to laze back and think as little as possible. Therefore writing new chapters when I am not particularly in the mood is out of the question. But I sympathize with your impatience as it concerns waiting for new chapters to your favorite fanfics so I will be giving it an honest effort in the future to resume posting new chapters as often as possible. So here is the next one for "A Fracture in Time", enjoy!

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**_Cybertron, 1.5 kilometers away_**

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"I'm telling you Firestar, I head someone send a distress call from this direction!" Starburst stated as she continued along at a high rate of speed in the direction the faint signal had come from.

In a way she considered it funny how a routine mission to one of the Femme Fatales' monitoring posts could result in some excitement for a change. Usually it was about as interesting as watching paint peel off but it was something that had to be done and she knew that if she didn't do it Chromia would get on her case as usual and that was enough incentive to go voluntarily. Firestar has been sent along to keep an eye out for Decepticons but that was hardly necessary since they were so far inside Autobot territory that only a 'con with a death wish would come near here. Still it was nice to have some company since it helped to keep the yawns of boredom from setting in and it allowed for some quality femme talk with one of her sisters before they had to fall back into 'soldier mode'. The timing of the distress call seemed almost like a godsend since it delayed their return to base a little longer and held the potential to keep her from monitoring duty for a little while longer. Eager and full of curiosity she had transformed and sped off for the source before her femme friend could do anything more than follow her lead and hope to talk her out of it along the way.

"So? It could be some kind of Decepticon trick to lure in gullible femmes with too much time on their hands." Firestar stated sarcastically as she tried to keep pace with her younger sister.

"Even if that were true they wouldn't know to put it on a secure com-code that only went into service three weeks ago." , retorted Starburst with confidence that she didn't really feel, "Besides if the 'cons really wanted to lure femmes in don't you think they would have made the message a little longer than just 'help'?"

"Maybe they thought it would draw in more motor heads like you if they made it more convincing." , Firestar replied with a sigh as she came to realize that she was not going to persuade her sister to turn around, "Besides Elita is going to have both our skidplates if we're not back at base on time."

"I think Elita would be **more** upset if we left somebody out here in the middle of nowhere to go offline when we could've helped them." , Starburst declared firmly as she inwardly wished Firestar had greater sense of adventure, "What if it's some deep cover Autobot agent who was coming back to warn us about something? If we turn back now we could wind up sending ourselves straight to the scrap heap!"

"We could be sending ourselves straight to the scrap heap right now by replying to some weak circuited distress call that is probably a Decepticon trick!" Firestar exclaimed with frustration.

"Well we'll find out in a moment because the source of the distress call should be just up ahead." Starburst declared back as she turned her attention ahead in the hopes of finding proof that her claims were valid.

For a few moments nothing showed up on her optic scans or her sensors but just as she was about to grudgingly admit that her sister had been right all along her optics struck energon. Lying right in the middle of the road was the unmistakable form of a transformer and much to her surprise it appeared to be a femme. Transforming the moment she got within a hundred yards of the body she immediately took out her emergency repair kit and began a scan of the bot's systems to see just how banged up she was. What she saw was not encouraging in the least and spoke a great deal of how tough this femme must have been to have made it this far. She could hear Firestar transforming and coming up behind her but she paid virtually no serious attention to it as her sensor readings showed that this femme was fading fast and would go permanently offline if she didn't work fast. The bulk of the damage was too severe for her to repair with an emergency field repair kit so the best she could hope to do was patch up her systems enough to get her back to base in time. Tilting the femme's head back a little bit Starburst took the emergency rations of energon and poured them into the unconscious 'bot's mouth while hoping that she possessed automatic fuel intake systems. When she heard the pleasant sound of fuel intake pumps operating she allowed herself a small smile of gratification at the small stride she had managed to make. Focusing on more important matters she began to patch up what fuel distribution tubes she could see as well as covering up any nasty looking holes in her chassis that looked like it might get rust infected.

After she completed all the repairs she could Starburst turned to Firestar and said "Transform so we can get her back to base."

"WHAT!? Have you got a bug in your systems directory!!??" , Firestar asked in disbelief as she looked at her sister as if she had ripped her head off her shoulders, "There's no way Elita is going to let us bring an outsider into the base!! Hell, she might just slag us for bringing her to the front door!!"

"Look! Elita will understand and besides I don't think this femme is going to be causing anyone much trouble anytime soon. I mean just look at her! She's about three steps from the scrap yard already!" , Starburst declared just as stridently, "Besides I've already run a full spectrum scan and I can detect absolutely no beacon or signal of any kind coming from her so there is no danger of her leading 'cons to our front door!" 

As much as Firestar wanted to argue with her sister she knew that the points made were valid ones and that Starburst wouldn't leave the area until she said yes. With a groan of resignation she transformed into vehicle mode and backed up so as to give her comrade an easier time in tossing the unknown transformer into the back. It only took a minute to do and soon after they were well on their way back to femme fatale HQ and one Inferno of an argument that would erupt upon their arrival. Previous arguments to the side she would be glad when they arrived because carrying two 'bots was tough work despite the fact that femmes were supposed to be the lighter type of transformer. In a way she sympathized with what her sister was trying to do for this mysterious femme but at the same time she felt the urge to tell Starburst to have her own systems checked when they got back. This was not the time to take chances with comrades' lives by bringing an unknown into the heart of the operation. At this point in the war with the Decepticons the Autobot forces were slowly being forced into a steady retreat and the big bots in Iacon needed every available transformer functional if they were going to turn things around. The last thing that base command needed was for the femmes to be completely wiped out because one of their troops was a little too compassionate. However since she had about as much chance of convincing her sister to drop this wreck off at the nearest scrap heap as seeing Optimus Prime smile all she could do was wait for Elita and Chromia to do it for her. After all Starburst might be able to say no to her but there was no way she would be able to say no to the two top ranked 'bots in the sisterhood.

Starburst might as well have been linked telepathically to her sister at this moment because just then she was thinking along the same lines but coming to some very different conclusions. The way she saw it they needed to get this femme up and running as soon as possible because she was certain about her earlier guess that this was a deep cover operative coming back with crucial information. After all 'cons weren't exactly the self-sacrificing sort so she really doubted that any of them would volunteer to get blasted half to scrap just for ol' buckethead. True that left the possibility that this transformer was an unwilling participant in the scheme but that didn't quite seem right to her either. Most 'cons were cowards when they weren't the ones with the blaster in their hands so it stood to reason that they wouldn't go through with a mission if they were in the same state as this femme 'bot was, didn't it? Shaking her head she dismissed those thoughts and focused on keeping her patient online and functional since all discussions would become moot if the enigma before her went offline two seconds from now. Unfortunately that was becoming harder and harder as the cycles ticked by since she could not get a look under the femme's chest plate to see if she had any internal injuries. From what she could tell there was some sort of energy signature scanner that looked like a cross between an autobot insignia with an unfamiliar planet in the background. It was hooked into the locking mechanism and refused to give her access despite the fact that she gave off an autobot power signature mixed with a medic back-up signature which should have given her automatic access. She would have to inquire to Elita later if this was standard method of operation for an Autobot under deep cover in enemy territory.

It took them about two and a half mega-cycles to get back to the tunnels and another half a megacycle to arrive at the entrance to the hidden base but when they arrived they both wished it had taken a little longer. Standing hidden behind two heavy structural supports was Chromia and Moonracer who looked like they were about ready to toss them into the smelter themselves. It was not entirely unreasonable since they were over an megacycle and a half past the time they were due back from their routine mission. According to established protocol any transformer that goes mission for more than two mega-cycles past their established return time was to be considered a hostile and treated as such. This was due to the fact that a few years back, according to Chromia, the Decepticons tried to reprogram an Autobot to spy for them. Fortunately though the 'bot went insane soon after returning to Autobot HQ and had to be taken offline since it was deemed impossible to restore him to his original self. While it was true that she and Firestar had arrived back before that with half a megacycle to spare it raised the question as to which way the ball bearing would roll. Chromia was almost a guaranteed hard-case which meant that she would probably read them the protocol act for being late and then say it with more intensity when she saw the little package in the back. Moonracer was a bit more sympathetic to her little bouts of compassion and might be willing to speak in their favor if she was promised an extra portion of energon at the end of the day. In the end though the final say on their fate would rest on Elita and she was one femme 'bot that Starburst had never been able to read accurately since coming online. In short it was more than likely two against and one in their favor for a price which meant she had better get her argument in order or she was going to get knocked down right on her skidplate before she could get a word out.

"Where have you two motor heads been? You were due back over a megacycle ago." Chromia asked as she cautiously walked up to the two of them.

"Something came up while we were out placing the monitoring posts and I thought we should go investigate." Starburst replied in the same monotone voice that Chromia seemed to perpetually use when lecturing. 

"'Something'?" , Moonracer inquired as she stepped around her and looked in Firestar's back to see what she was carrying, "Looks more like 'someone' to me Chromia and a pretty dented someone at that."

Chromia in response didn't say a word, she simply narrowed her optics and walked over to inspect the barely functional transformer for herself. For the space of a few mega-cycles the light aqua-blue and gray Autobot simply looked at the offline 'bot, looking at her like she would a field report that could be either good news or bad news depending on how you look at it. Starburst watched nervously as she waited for the second in command's pronouncement to be made and being made more uneasy as the seconds clicked by. All this waiting was killing her and she was praying to Primus that it would be over soon, that Chromia would either vape her or let her get this patient to the med-bay before all hope was lost. Finally she couldn't take it any longer, this femme was fading away fast and any further delay made it that much more unlikely that she was going to survive.

"Look Chromia! Either slag us or let us pass because if I don't get this femme into the repair bay in the next five cycles all we'll have is a box load of spare parts!" she declared as she attempted to stare down the femme fatale's second in command while she still had her courage with her.

"She's right Chromia, this one's fading fast and Starburst's repairs are only going to hold a little while longer." Moonracer commented as she ran a scanner over the charred form.

"Fine, but you're going to take full responsibility for her and she is to be placed under guard for the duration of her stay." Chromia said to Starburst as she turned and walked towards the hidden keypad by her hiding place.

With a few keystrokes the massive foot and a half thick door began to rise up to reveal the interior of female femme HQ in all it's disrepair. Starburst smiled as she looked about at her home, she had been living her almost from the moment she was brought online but it still managed to bring a smile to her face no matter how many times she entered it. The others often teased her about that, treated her like she was fresh from the production line with about as much experience as a rookie, but she knew they were just kidding so she didn't mind all that much. As soon as they were all inside and the door thumped to the ground she jumped off Firestar's back and did her best to scoop the unknown femme into her arms. Ahead of her she could already see the familiar blur of Moonracer's body streaking to the repair bay to prep it for it's newest patient. Moving there as quickly as she could without jostling the femme too much she hoped that she could get in the repair bay before her commanding officer showed up. She was thankful that Chromia had decided to roll her way on the subject at hand but she doubted that Primus was going to produce two miracles for her in such a short span of time. Once inside she let out a sigh of relief at the small feat she had managed to pull off but then shoved it aside to center on the matter before her.

"Moonracer, prep for an energon infusion at .5 per cycle and hook her up to the monitors." , Starburst ordered as she laid her patient on the table and then slid the operating tools over to her side, "I don't want any surprises in during this operation."

"Yes Doctor." Moonracer replied sarcastically as she took a cube of energon from storage and began working.

**************************************************************************************

**_2 Megacycles Later, Repair Bay, Femme Fatale HQ_**

**__**

*Phew* It's amazing this femme is still functional! Starburst thought to herself as she finished with the last of the repairs.

Now she knew why she was just the stand-in medic and Moonracer was the full-time version, this was a lot of work! Still all in all she would have to say that her first major operation was a shining success for the most part. The patient's power levels were at nominal levels and almost all the repairs had been completed to the best of her ability with the tools and spare parts at her disposal. The only thing that made her servos grind was the slaggin' energy sig. lock on the femmes chest plate which still refused to open and was protected by several safeguards. Due to this obstacle the most she had been able to do was repair the arms, legs and other bits of surface damage that she could get at without too much trouble. Still she was certain that there had to be at least some trouble beneath the surface and it was frustrating not to be able to get at it and do her job. She was just about to open a comm line to Elita to see if she could help when the femme walked right in not a moment later. For a moment it seemed as though her level of tenseness would shoot back up but thankfully the look of polite concern on her leader's face took care of that.

"So how is the your patient doing?" Elita-1 asked with mild concern as she made her own visual assessment of the transformer on the table.

"Well I've been able to repair most of her body and armor but some kind of energy signature sensor on her chest plate won't disengage the locks to let me get at her primary systems." Starburst replied with a bit of frustration in her voice.

"Hmmm. Is she operational?" Elita asked with interest.

"Well her armor is of a fairly good composition so it should have been able to give her internal systems some protection so I think she's functional." , replied Starburst as she mentally went over what the spectrographic analyser revealed about the armor's composition, "If you want to question her though I would try and keep it short. Her body is still in rough shape and needs time to adjust to the new parts I installed."

Elita-1 merely nodded which was obviously the signal to proceed so Starburst turned back to the newly restored femme and began to bring her back online. She proceeded slowly so as to give the systems time to fully connect with each other before powering up the next section. It was slow but she was determined not to blow it and accidentally give herself more work to do later in repairs. Eventually she came to the last system that needed to be brought online and after pressing the activation button she stepped back to see what would happen. For a moment nothing happened but then the transformer on the table began to slowly move and even tried to sit up. Unfortunately it seemed as though it needed some help so she stepped forward and helped the femme the rest of the way up. The recovered Autobot didn't say anything at first but once her optic systems apparently finished running through their start-up sequence she became more active.

"Uhhhh, I really need to watch that first step!" , the femme muttered to herself in a self-ridiculing way, "Computer, run a self-diagnostic."

[Systems at seventy-five percent efficiency]

"WHAT?!" the femme exclaimed as she took her first serious look about the room.

"Um, that's my doing. I was the one that brought you back to base and did the repairs." , replied Starburst even though she knew it was a rhetorical question, "My name's Starburst, what's yours?"

"The name's Nightshade kid." the femme replied as she looked over at her for the first time.

Nightshade looked at her as if she were a lowly rookie trying to start up a conversation with a seasoned professional and for a moment she was afraid she had just made a mistake. Fortunately that passed as the femme seemed to smile but when she tried a physical action a bit more strenuous then sitting up her optics began to blink on and off and she gripped her torso plate before returning to her original position. Once her optics came back online it was clear that she was unhappy with the fact that she would have to stay on the operating table a cycle longer so Starburst took the opportunity to ask about the lock on her chest plate. 

"Most of the repairs I was able to do were to your limbs and lower torso area" , She explained as professionally as possible, "but I wasn't able to get past the energy signature lock on your chest plate so there might be some internal damage still causing problems."

"I kinda figured as much when my chest felt like it had just been blasted by ol' buckethead himself." , Nightshaded stated as she slowly lowered herself back down on the table, "It can't be to bad though otherwise I'd be feeling a whole lot worse than I do right now."

"If you could just open up your chest plate I could probably repair everything without much trouble." Starburst stated with an encouraging smile and hoping that it had the desired effect.

This seemed to be something of a quandary for Nightshade as she lay there for several minutes without saying a word to indicate an affirmative or a negative. This puzzled Starburst for a little while and she continued to ask herself why this transformer would be hesitant to have herself fully restored by an ally. It was then that the possibility that she really had let a Decepticon spy into the base came up to slap her in the face and put a bit of worry on her face. With every passing nanoclic she became more and more concerned that perhaps she had made the wrong choice by bringing Nightshade here and hoped that things wouldn't turn out too bad. Then Nightshade seemed to come to a decision and looked at her with a look that practically said out loud 'don't you dare even thing of betraying me!'.

"Fine. However I have a few conditions that have to be agreed to before I let this little repair job continue." Nightshade stated firmly as she looked both Starburst and Elita right in the optics before waiting to see if they would agree with her request.

"What conditions would those be?" Elita asked with an objective tone of voice.

"First, Starburst is to be the only transformer in the room for the duration of the operation and she must swear not to reveal any of what she sees to anybody." Nightshade stated with a firmness that clearly meant that there was no room for negotiation.

"I can live with that." Starburst said in agreement.

"Very well then, Starburst will be the only person present." , Elita said in agreement, "Any other conditions?"

"Yes, any and all visual recording/transmitting devices in the room must be shut off for the duration of the operation." , Nightshade stated with the same firmness, "Audio devices as well."

This caused Starburst to be somewhat concerned since it would leave Nightshade a small window of opportunity to try something if she did turn out to be a Decepticon spy. True if she did manage to make enough noise the others would probably hear it and come in to save her but that would hardly do much good if she were scrapped before they got there. Still she was hardly a weak defenseless maintenance bot and Nightshade's injuries were genuine so the risk was probably minimal.

"I suppose so but why all the secrecy?" she asked with polite interest.

"Let's just say that I have a few unique parts that Autobot HQ wants to keep knowledge of to a minimum for as long as possible." Nightshade answered warily as she eyed Starburst like a potential enemy.

"I suppose I can allow this but if Starburst finds anything that might compromise the security and safety of this base she will have to put it on report." Elita stated with nothing hiding the fact that a warning was present in her voice.

"Of course." Nightshade replied with acknowledgement in her voice.

"Then if we're all done trading veiled threats I think it's time I got started." Starburst declared with her hands on her hips.

With a small laugh Elita left the room and a few minutes later the familiar beep of the security locks being activated sealing her in with her patient. Starburst expected that Nightshade would then open up her chest plate and then go into repair mode but all she did was look about the room at various points where security devices were hidden. This shocked her a bit because those devices were well hidden among all the other machines in the room so as to be almost impossible to find unless you knew where to look. When Chromia had originally installed them she had made a point of making sure she knew exactly where each of them were in case she got into any trouble. To find that a complete stranger was able to locate them within a few minutes of regaining consciousness was strange to say the least and bound to be a blow to her sister's ego since she took pride in her ability to hide such things in plain sight. Eventually Nightshade looked in her direction with a look that made it clear that all the security monitors had been deactivated and she was ready to undergo the operation.

"Do what you have to do but remember that you are not to say anything to anyone about what you see inside of me." , Nightshade said clearly with no room for argument, "Not to Elita, not to anyone. I don't care if Optimus Prime himself comes in here and asks you about what you saw, you are not to say a word."

"Okay." Starburst replied with a bit of uneasiness in her voice.

Taking her at her word Nigthshade reached up and held her right hand above the Autobot symbol on her chest plate and held it there while it was scanned. It was a fairly sophisticated scan from what she could understand, it seemed to take into account not only the unique energy signature her body gave off but also certain elements of her design and operating protocols as well. Whoever had designed the lock had obviously wanted to make sure that no one but authorized personnel could get a look inside of this mysterious transformer. The question that continued to run around in her mind was what could be so important so as to warrant such extensive security precautions and if secrecy was so imperative then why was she allowing a relative stranger to see it. Just then she noticed that the lock on Nightshade's chest had stopped glowing and small clicks could be heard coming from beneath the chest plate as the various seals disengaged themselves. Removing all other thoughts from her mind she watched with rapt attention at the femme before her, eagerly awaiting a look inside the area of Nightshade's torso that was so heavily guarded. A few scattered predictions of what she would find flittered through her mind as the clicking continued, from some sort of highly advanced operating components to a spark that could never be destroyed. As the last click sounded and the metallic armor plating began to open up to reveal the circuitry and wires inside Starburst wondered which of her two guesses would prove accurate.

She would later come to laugh at how far off the mark she was.

**************************************************************************************

**_Two Mega-Cycles Later, Femme Fatale HQ, Monitoring Station_**

Man this is boring! thought Firestar as she continued to review the video feeds from the various tunnel camera's as well as the sensor data that went along with them.

It had been a little over four mega-cycles since Starburst had started operating on that femme they had found out on the old highway and three hours since she had been stuck with monitoring duty. Technically it was Starburst's turn at the console but since she was locked up in med-bay with that scrapped transformer she had been given the honor of watching the uneventful screens and hearing the annoying beeps. Needless to say that her love for her sister was beginning to wear very thin and whenever she saw her sister next she was going add a few dents to her chassis herself so she can share the repair bay with her unknown friend. Casually looking over the array of screens and displays she couldn't help but think about what might be going on in there and who that nameless femme might be. She had to admit that she no longer thought that she was a threat to the base since Chromia had stepped up security but that still didn't explain what she had been doing out there in the middle of nowhere. After all no 'bot was crazy enough to go into decepticon territory all by themselves and any group of transformers who might have gone over would be missed by their commanders in a heartbeat which would mean they had been given authorization to go into enemy territory. That would indicate some type of mission and she had heard nothing from Chromia or Elita about some sort of secret mission being planned much less authorized by Autobot HQ in the last little while. That would seem to tilt things back towards the possibility that Starburst had proposed earlier about a deep cover operative returning with vital information about Decepticon activities. If that were the case though it obviously didn't go very well given the state they had found her in and the supposed skill that such operatives possessed. She shook her head and growled in frustration as the facts that she had been privy to refused to fall into any configuration that she was comfortable with and it was driving her crazy!

Just then she heard some footsteps coming her way so she turned to see who it might be and was somewhat concerned to see a distracted Starburst walking her way in a slow casual way. Not that Starburst wasn't always a little distracted but this was a bit worse than usual since it looked as though her optics were barely registering the objects around her. Oh sure she managed to avoid bumping into anything or knocking something over but that seemed to be the extent of her knowledge of the outside world. All the rest of her sister's attention seemed to be focused on her own thoughts and while those thoughts could be of anything it'd be a good guess that it had something to do with their enigma of a guest. That only made her more concerned since all the security monitors in the repair bay had been deactivated two hours ago at Elita's request which meant two hours in which something major had happened. Near as she could tell there were no visible signs of damage or forced entry on her sister's body which indicated that the unknown femme hadn't done anything actively to hurt Starburst during that time but that still left some questions in her head.

Well I won't get any answers just sitting here on my can looking at her. Firestar thought to herself as she turned her body to fully face her sister.

"So is our wounded femme all fixed up now?" Firestar asked with her usual calm tone of voice even though she was actually digging for some answers.

It took Starburst a moment to react to the question but then she replied "Uh, yeah. There was just a little bit of damage done to a few servo-motors and microfiliment trancievers that were slagging up the works. The repairs are all done but she'll be offline for about an hour while all the systems adjust to the repairs."

"Does this femme 'bot have a name?" Firestar asked as she subtlety scrutinized her comrades mannerisms.

"Nightshade." Starburst replied as she grabbed a nearby chair and sat down next to her sister.

Firestar nodded at this and then asked "Did she explain what she was doing out there in the middle of nowhere?"

"Didn't really get a chance to ask her much about that, she was pretty much all business and seemed interested only in getting out of here as soon as possible." Starburst replied as her optics drifted from place to place.

That seemed a bit suspicious to Firestar, after all most of the Autobots seemed to enjoy any spare time they had to just sit about and talk with their friends. It was one of the few joys in most of their lives that still remained intact despite the battles that they had to fight every so often. Only a few transformers didn't take part in such informal gatherings and those were mostly the hardcore soldiers who didn't feel really comfortable in any other environment besides the battlefield. Still even those oldies weren't so focused on fighting that they rushed back onto the battlefield as soon as repairs were completed. So what was this femme's story? Where did she come from and what had she been doing that had almost gotten her scrapped out there in no 'bots land? Whatever the case was Starburst's present state only served to increase her concern that there was more to Nightshade than meets the eye and could very well be a threat to them. Still all she had for the moment were her own suspicions and hunches and that wasn't enough to go to Elita-1 with and hope for anything to be done. No she had to wait and watch everything very carefully so she could be ready in case anything unusual happened.

"So, did you finally get a chance to check under her hood?" Firestar asked as she turned to a topic that had interested her sister since the moment they had found Nightshade.

"Yeah but I can't tell you anything, it was one of the conditions to seeing it that I couldn't tell anyone what I saw." Starburst replied as she looked away from her to something on the other side of the room.

"C'mon Sis! You know you can tell me anything!" Firestar said as she tried to squeeze some information about what seemed to be the stranger's greatest secret.

"Sorry Firestar but I gave my word that I wouldn't say anything and I'm a femme of my word." Starburst stated firmly as she made it clear that she would not be moved from her present position. 

"Alright but just you wait, someday I'm gonna find out about something secret and I won't tell you what it is no matter how much energon you push my way!" Firestar teased even though she was secretly disappointed that she had been unable to get anything useful out of her sister.

Guess I'll just have to wait until our mysterious stranger wakes up before I can get any answers. she thought to herself as she turned back to the monitors.

**************************************************************************************

**_One Mega-cycle later, Femme Fatale HQ, Repair bay_**

[Recalibrations to new components complete. System activation engaged]

It didn't seem real at first, it felt like she was just waking up the way she always did back at the base before being told of her next mission. For awhile she thought she was back there at the base and in a few moments Angelfire would come banging on the door to her quarters telling her to get her can in gear for some reason or another. It wasn't until about ten seconds later that it all came back to her, all the people who she would never see again and all that she had given up to make sure things turned out differently. Slowly she brought her optics back online and looked around the repair bay where she had been laying for the last little while. Just then it occurred to her that she didn't know what time it was and given that her mission was on a set timetable she couldn't afford to get to far behind. Slowly she sat up on the table and looked for the closest interface socket for the repair bay's computer so she could get an accurate reading. She wasn't willing to look at her own knowing that it was probably wrong given how badly she had been damaged and the unlikeliness that one of the femmes outside had set her chronometer for her. Eventually she found one and immediately jacked in using her up link cord located in the underside of her wrist joint to find the information she was after. It wasn't easy to slink around the Femme's database and remain undetected but she managed to get by but when she finally found what she was after she almost lost composure completely.

TEN AND A HALF MEGA-CYCLES!! Nightshade thought to herself in great alarm as she realized just how far behind in the mission's timeline she really was.

According to the mission profile given to her by Dr. Chase when they had arrived at the project 'Gateway' compound she was supposed to be in Iacon right now and at the door to Wheeljack's lab. This time was chosen because to the best of the transformer scientist's recollection it had been the one time that he had been away long enough for her to proceed with the second phase of the operation. By the time that process was finished she would have just enough time to get out of there before the Autobot came back to gather the last few things he would need for the Ark's mission. The way things stood now she could leave immediately and still not get there in time to complete the next phase of her mission within satisfactory parameters. She growled in anger and almost rammed her fist through the nearest view screen but was stopped by the knowledge that it would not help her mission in the slightest. Disconnecting herself from the interface she turned around and headed for the door hoping that she could get out of here as easily without compromising her mission even further. Unfortunately when she opened the door she found that she must not have been as quiet in the Femme Fatale's database as she would have liked.

"Find what you were looking for?" Chromia asked with her suspicion virtually plastered across her forehead.

Deciding that honesty was the best policy Nightshade replied "Yes I did. I didn't think you'd have a problem with me making sure I had the time right."

"No problem. Elita said she wanted to talk with you in her office and sent me to escort you there." Chromia stated with suspicion still in her optics even though she managed to keep a emotionless face on.

"Well escort away then." she replied in an almost amused tone as she decided to show the aqua-blue femme just what she thought of her intimidation tactics.

This was met with a slight increase in the brightness of the femme's optics but not much else as she turned away and began to walk down the corridor to the left. Following her she decided to examine her surroundings a bit more closely in case she had to make a quick getaway using force if she couldn't talk her way out of it first. Talking of course was far more preferable since it was less likely that Elita would radio ahead to Iacon that she was coming and thus make it easier to slip in unnoticed. Still she would have to watch what she said and how she acted if she didn't want to stir up any more suspicion among this group than she already had. Her arrival here couldn't have been met well and she was sure that most of them would be thinking about her for days to come whether she liked it or not. She had of course already been provided with a cover story in case she happened to encounter Autobots during the course of the mission but that had been written up with the idea that she would have an entire team with her to support her story. After all a group of people telling the story was a lot more convincing than a single unknown femme telling something that might sound as ridiculous as hearing Soundwave laugh. Still she could improvise with the best of them so when the questions from Elita came she was confident that she would be able to throw out some half decent answers.

Continuing her browsing of her surroundings she was oddly comforted by the presence of several familiar pieces of equipment that were lined up against the wall or in some cases embedding in the walls. She had accepted hours ago that her world and her time were gone forever and even if she succeeded in her mission she would still be forced to live in a bizarre world where things would turn out differently then she remembered. It was just one of the many things she had been called on to sacrifice in order to ensure that the future that she had lived in would vanish and hopefully a more peaceful world would be put into place by Optimus Prime. For the most part she was totally fine with paying the price since it was far more preferable that having to fight a futile battle back in her time which could only end in defeat. Despite this her heart still ached as each piece of equipment that she looked at reminded her of someone she had left behind or someone who if she was successful would be completely different than what she remembered. She shook her head and forced her mind to focus on the more technical aspects of the equipment and how they could be used to buy her some time and distance if this meeting with Elita didn't go well. She had no desire to scrap them so all of her ideas were centered on either making them look foolish or just limiting their mobility for a cycle or two.

By the time that they had apparently reached Elita's office she had cataloged at least ten different ways she could get out of here by force that would not result in serious damages for the Femmes. She had hoped that she would be able to make fifteen but eventually accepted that ten would have to be sufficient for the time being and hoped that she wouldn't need them in the end. Chromia activated the intercom by the door and notified Elita that their 'guest' was here and Elita replied by inviting them both in. Giving her one last look of warning the Femme's second in command pressed a button next to the intercom and waited for her to enter the office first. Upon entering though Nightshade was surprised to see the room littered with various holo-pics and other nic-nacks which she automatically assumed had come from memorable events. She even managed to pick out a few pictures of Elita and Optimus Prime on what appeared to be social settings rather than battlefields and that was what seemed to be the most alien to her. Back in the resistance virtually every moment was spent in planning the next raid or going over intelligence reports detailing the latest Decepticon advances or retreats. Having a social life was practically unheard of beyond the camaraderie that soldiers felt for each other and the occasional group of people who had a habit of sitting together in the mess hall. Oh sure they treated each other like they were old buddies but that was just as much a coping mechanism for their current situation as it was a customary way to act around the base. They were all trying to keep their minds off just how depressing their situation really was and how uncertain it was how long each of them was going to live given the current trends on the battlefield. To see Elita's office filled with so many personal mementos, it made her wonder just how much she and the others had been forced to sacrifice to make a difference against the 'Con's. Returning her gaze to Elita who sat behind her desk she noticed that the Femme leader had noticed her staring at the various objects in the room and was scrutinizing her with a puzzled look.

Blast it you slaggin' motor head!! You're gonna blow everything looking around like that!! she scolded herself as she placed a professional look onto herself as she returned Elita's stare.

"Please have a seat." Elita said as she indicated one of the metal chairs on the other side of the desk.

Taking Elita up on her offer she sat down and waited for the inevitable questions that she knew were going to be asked next.

"I suppose you already know that I have a great many questions to ask you." Elita stated in what could be termed as her friendly but firm tone of voice.

"Of course." Nightshade replied in as emotionless a tone of voice as possible.

"Then I suppose we should start out with the basics." , Elita stated, "Who are you?"

"Lt. Nightshade, covert operations division six." Nightshade replied as she called up the appropriate information from the mission profile.

"Who is your commanding officer?" Elita asked as she subtlety began to look for a chink in Nightshade's story.

"Ultra Magnus." Nightshade replied as she secretly grinned when she called up Magnus's location at this particular point in time.

When this false story had originally been concocted it had been done so with certainty that none of the Autobots she mentioned would be available to confirm or deny her statement. At the moment Ultra Magnus was off world looking for possible energon deposits in the system's asteroid field and would be out of contact until well after the Ark had lifted off for Earth. It was possible that Elita would notice this fact as well but it was unlikely that she would do anything definitive as a result of this.

"What were you doing out in the wastelands?" Elita asked while betraying none of her suspicion.

"I was en route back to Iacon City with my team when we were ambushed by a group of Decepticons around the sewage ditches." Nightshade replied since she believed it was unlikely she could hide her connection to the explosion given the state they found her in.

"An awfully hazardous route to take back to Iacon." Chromia commented as she scrutinized her even more obviously than Elita did.

"It was necessary and we had a special coating that protected us from the acidic properties of the waste." Nightshade retorted to the obvious attempt to poke a hole in her story.

"Who were the other members of your team?" Elita asked as she gave a passive glance in Chromia's direction.

"Unfortunately I cannot disclose their names to you commander." , Nightshade stated as she waited for what was going to come next, "I can however tell you that there were six of us in total."

"Why can you not tell me their names?" , Elita asked as her optics seemed to narrow, "I'm pretty sure I have a high enough security clearance."

"Sorry commander but it was one of my mission parameters that I divulge nothing about the nature of my mission beyond what could no longer be hidden." , Nightshade replied with firm resolution, "Once I have reported to Ultra Magnus I am sure that the information will be made available for you."

"Why such strict security?" Elita asked as she appeared to become more interested in the Autobot before her.

"Suffice it to say that Ultra Magnus has been concerned about security lately and doesn't want to chance the wrong bits of information finding their way back to Deception HQ." Nightshade replied as she waited to see what their reactions would be and began to come up with the revised answers she would need.

It was debatable which way that the ball bearing would roll in this particular instance since much of what she could say had been altered to suit her current condition. It was obvious that they weren't entirely convinced by the answers she had given but at the same time they could not cast anything more than suspicions on her. They did not have enough to label her a spy and that would most likely allow her to leave here unmolested but there was a chance that they would assign someone to follow her when she left for Iacon. She was certain that would be what Chromia would suggest once she had a chance to speak alone with Elita but whether or not Elita would agree to it was doubtful. According to what she had heard about Elita 1's early years she was a girl scout when it came to ethics and ideals which meant that in the absence of compelling evidence she would take Nightshade's story at face value. Keeping that in mind the most that she would probably do was try and get in touch with Iacon sometime in the next day or so and ask around about her. Hopefully by that time she would be long gone on the Ark and the Femme leader would have to wait over sixty-five million years to get her answers. So in the end the best move that she could make was to get Elita on her side and hope that whatever favorable judgment the pink femme made would hold the others in line.

"What made him think that there was a security problem?" Elita asked as her interest seemed to increase.

"Several missions to Decepticon installations have suffered unusually high casualties despite the seemingly flawless planning that was done beforehand." , Nightshade replied cautiously, "The raid on the energon warehouse in talax sector, the listening post in Delta sector and many others were all met with surprising resistance."

With that she crossed her arms across her chest making it clear that that was all the information she intended to give them at the moment. Truthfully she couldn't tell them much more without breaking the parameter she mentioned earlier and damaging the credibility of her story. All she could do now was sit back and wait to see what action they took in reaction to her story and hope that it was in her favor. If not she would be forced to make a break for it and hope that she could get to Iacon and complete the next two phases in her mission without much more difficulty. The nanoes that went by seemed like whole mega-cycles as she waited for Elita to come to some sort of conclusion and with every passing moment it seemed less and less likely that she was going to get out of here peaceably. Then something happened that she would not have expected in a million stellar cycles and almost caused her to lose her composure completely.

"Well I think that's all the information I need for the moment." , Elita stated as she stood up from the desk and extended her hand, "I look forward to reading your report Lt. Nightshade." 

Taking Elita's hand after a moment Nightshade replied "It's been a pleasure meeting you Elita."

"Chromia will escort you to the surface." Elita stated as she nodded to Chromia.

With that Nightshade breathed a secret sigh of relief as she followed Chromia out the door.

Well that went better than it had any right to. , She thought to herself with a small grin of satisfaction, I just might pull this off after all.

**************************************************************************************


	7. Simple on paper, harder in reality

"A Fracture In Time" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: rybreen@theberries.ns.ca

**************************************************************************************

**_Femme Fatale HQ, Elita-1's Office, Twenty cycles Later_**

The door to the office slid aside and Chromia walked in with as neutral a face as she ever had on but in her optics there was a slight twinkle of emotion that no one but her sisters would be able to identify accurately. She walked up to the desk and waited for Elita to finish reading over a report that she had been looking at when the other femme walked in. After a few moments had passed Elita put down the data pad and looked up at her second in command while scrutinizing her appearance.

"Is our little guest away?" Elita asked in a professional manner.

"She left five cycles ago." Chromia replied.

For a few moments Elita simply looked at her longtime friend and then she said "You think I should've interrogated her harder don't you?"

"Yes. There were far too many conveniently unconfirmable facts in her story for it to be completely true." , Chromia replied in as non-offensive a manner as possible, "In fact I was surprised that you let her off so easily, you're usually a lot more thorough."

"Yes well we have better things to do than sit in a room asking a mysterious femme questions which she obviously had no intention of answering." , Elita stated as he got up from her desk and started moving towards the door, "After all there is no sense wasting time in an endeavor that will produce nothing in the end."

For a moment Chromia seemed surprised at her leader's casual attitude to a possible spy but then all of a sudden a look of understanding appeared on her face. With nothing more to be said she followed her pink commander out the door leaving behind her an empty office.

**************************************************************************************

**_Two and a Half Mega-Cycles Later, Just outside Iacon City_**

**__**

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Not bad, I managed to make it to Iacon without any further complications and only a few slight detours. Nightshade thought to herself as she scanned the tops of the giant walls that protected Iacon city from Decepticon forces.

It had taken all her skill and precision to make it to Iacon but she managed to do it without wasting too much time trying to remain undetected so in her opinion things were definitely looking up. Still when she got in there she would have to move quite a bit faster and elmininate all unnecessary parts of the mission in order to make it aboard the Ark before it took off. It would be rough given what she would have to do but there was no way in the Inferno that she was going to settle for anything less than total success in her assigned mission. Quietly she scanned the top of the turrets to get a feel for how many were up there and how many she would have to avoid to get to where she had to go in order to proceed with her assignment. It looked like there was roughly one guard for every three hundred yards and only three fusion cannons that would stand a chance of hitting her with any sort of accuracy. As she switched her optics to infra-red she saw the reason for what she saw as being rather lax security given that the Autobots were currently living in wartimes. Between her and the wall was a pattern of heat signatures that were arranged in the classic energon minefield layout with a few high yield explosives thrown in to make things even more interesting. For the average operative getting across this without being detected would be nothing short of impossible but fortunately for her she had an ace up her sleeve. 

"Computer bring up file Kup-1 and activate." she whispered as she watched the various symbols dance across her field of vision.

For a few moments she was about ready to curse Kup for his incompetence but when she saw the infra-red signatures fade from positions before her she took back every bad thing she had ever said about him. Once all the mines that she could see had vanished she returned her attention to the Autobots on the wall and waited for her opportunity to advance. She had to be very careful not to get spotted or she would be lucky if they even waited until she had been positively identified before they vaped her sorry tin can butt. Fortunately lady luck seemed to be smiling on her because only a few minutes later she saw all the guards that within her area of approach head towards the main towers where the stairs probably were positioned. For a moment she was puzzled by the timing of the action but then decided that it was probably nothing more than a changing of the guard. According to the limited files she had on the time period the guards changed every six hours and if she was right about how those shifts were arranged then those bots were leaving their posts right on schedule. Taking one last look around the top of the wall she then bolted for her destination knowing that it would only be a few more seconds before the next shift got to their posts. For a moment she thought she wasn't going to make it but when she finally arrived at the shadows that were draped over the corners she was able to breath a sigh of relief. Looking straight up she could see the barrel of the Autobot's blaster just peek out from the top of the wall but like the gearhead he was he didn't bother to look down along the wall. Not that she could really blame him for not checking, after all what were the chances that a transformer could approach the wall much less get to it with them on guard and a minefield laying in wait for an incompetent soldier to step into.

I can barely believe that Ironhide and the others were ever this sloppy! , Nightshade thought to herself as she shook her head in disappointment, They continuously pounded into my hard-drive the necessity of being careful but they themselves weren't much better at it than a first year rookie!

For a moment she thought about rubbing that little fact into them when she got back but then she remembered that the transformers she knew were gone for good. Her head dropped to her chest as the pain of loss welled up within her but with a shake of her head she willed it away and focused on the task at hand. Turning to face the wall she began to run her hands over the metal surface in search of the key panel she had been told was hidden in this exact spot. It wasn't easy to find with all the scrap pieces of metal that were nailed to damaged areas but eventually she found it and opened it up. With a few quick taps of the buttons and a forged authorization card the light on the panel glowed green and wall before her rippled slightly. Closing the panel she pushed through the phased wall and moved as fast as she could to get to the other side before the wall returned to its normal condition. She was slightly impressed at this arrangement, a hidden passage protected by its own phase disruption generator that would only remain activated for the minimum amount of time necessary to get to the other side. According to the file she had been given back in her own time it had been constructed as an emergency escape tunnel in case Iacon ever fell to the Decepticons. The fact that the phase disrupter was still experimental technology in this time period made it clear that while in some areas they may be incompetent the Autobots were practical in others. 

She reached the other side of the wall with time to spare and calmly watched as the wall rippled once more before solidifying back into reinforced concrete and steel. Returning her gaze to what lay before her she was pleased that the dark tunnel before her showed no signs of hidden alarms or booby-traps within range of her sensors. It was sloppy in her opinion to leave even a hidden entrance/exit unprotected like this but she reminded herself that the war was at a stalemate at the moment. Both Autobots and Decepticons were low on fuel and were more or less staying behind their respective boarders until such time as one side found a new plentiful fuel supply. Once that was done the war would resume and end with the faction holding the most energon as the victor. Little did they know what would happen in the next few million years and how it would change everything that they knew into something no transformer ever thought possible. Returning her focus to the environment ahead of her she began her long trek into the tunnel ahead of her while still being careful to scan for traps ahead of time. Just because the entrance was not covered with sniper emplacements didn't mean that the rest of the tunnel wasn't guarded and she had a good few kilometers to cover before she reached the street access hatch. From there she would drive through a few blocks of alleyways and back streets until she reached her destination.

I just hope that Wheeljack doesn't forget something back at his lab and come back for it. , Nightshade thought to herself as she carefully began to advance, I would really hate to have to explain my presence to an Autobot for a second time today.

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**_One and a half Mega-Cycles Later, Kilo Sector, Iacon City_**

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**__**

*Whew* Man am I glad to be out of there!! Nightshade thought to herself as she closed the hatch to the tunnel and stretched herself back up to her full height.

If he had still been alive she would have slagged the 'bot who had suggested that she enter the city via that tunnel. Oh sure it had started out fine but about halfway into it the tunnel was obstructed by various bits of debris and scrap metal which leaving only a very small gap for her to squeeze through. That as well would have been fine except for the fact that it lasted for the rest of the trip with only minute changes in size and configuration at random points in the tunnel. Looking down at herself she found that she had gotten quite filthy while crawling down there and apparently the slick liquid she had crawled through down there hadn't been water but in fact had been mech-fluid. She could just picture Angelfire and the others laughing at the mess and joking about how she looked great in dark gray. Even though she was usually defensive about her appearance even she had to agree that she looked like she had just crawled through some of the most disgusting gunk in existence and looked it as well. Just then a peculiar sensation flowed through her body, it felt as though the entire area around her had suddenly lit up with an eerie white light with a single tower in the distance glowing particularly brightly. It was strange and unlike anything she had ever felt before in all the years of her existence and for a moment she wondered what it could be and where it was coming from. Suddenly she got the weirdest idea that the tower that was glowing the brightest was looking around as though it were a sentient being. That of course she regarded as being ridiculous but still the idea did not pass and as she waited for the feelings and ideas to pass she felt a chill filter through her metal frame. Looking at the tower she gasped in surprised as she thought she saw a pair of blue optics atop the tower and were looking straight at her. Then without warning the feelings and images disappeared and all was as it was before the light had appeared with the exception that she was still standing there in shock at what had happened.

What the slaggin' heck just happened!?!?! she thought to herself as she stared off into the distance and tried to make sense of what she had just gone through.

Had the Starburst done something to her systems while she had been offline? Her diagnostics had turned up anything unusual and it was a part of her key systems which were protected by high density duranium alloy. That made it highly unlikely that the petite med-femme had managed to cut her way in and tamper with it but it also meant that the results it had given her were accurate and there was nothing wrong with her. It didn't make any sense!! She let out a frustrated growl of irritation as she gripped her head as if in an attempt to force the answer to appear in her data conduits. Eventually she gave up trying to figure out what had happened and tried to rid herself of the questions it had produced so she could focus on her mission. After all that was all that mattered, anything else was just a distraction that could only lead to trouble and most likely failure in an assignment that people had died to ensure it succeeded. Transforming into her vehicular mode she sped off to her next destination to complete phase two of the operation. Keeping her sensors on passive scan she sped along the specified route with only a few modifications on her part for safeties sake. After all she had followed the route through the sewage ditches like it had been recommended and she had lost all of her other team members. She would be damned to the Inferno before she'd trust the plan she had been given word for word again and besides she thought since she was the only surviving team member it was her call to make anyways.

For the most part her alternate routes were sound, they avoided a few Autobot patrols and sensor emplacements, but there were a few close calls that she wished hadn't happened. Fortunately with every alteration the distance between her and Wheeljack's lab decreased more and more until she was right across the street from it. Unfortunately there was something else straight across the street from her and it only took that one thing to make her hide in the shadows and pray that they would leave. Her fear that Wheeljack would come back to check on something was accurate because there he was standing outside his lab talking with a transformer who seemed vaguely familiar to her. She couldn't quite place where she had seen him before but whoever he was he seemed to be talking with Wheeljack about something in particular. Turning the sensitivity of her audio receivers up she tried to listen in on the conversation in the hopes that it would give her some hint as to how long they would be there and when they would leave. Hopefully it would be soon because every cycle counted and she didn't have all that many she could spare to politely allow them to finish their conversation. It took a moment to properly calibrate her audio sensors and filter out all the background noise but within a few tries got the proper settings figured out.

"So do you really think that you and the others can find a new energon supply?" the familiar transformer asked in a voice just as familiar.

"I hope so Kup. Our current fuel reserves won't last much longer than the Decepticons' supply will and it wouldn't be much of a victory if we all fall on our faceplates ten cycles after we beat Megatron." Wheeljack replied as he tried to inject some levity into the grim situation.

"Yeah I remember a time out on the rim of known space when I was leading a platoon into a secret Decepticon R&D installation." , Kup stated as he seemed to think back into the past, "It was a tough mission and one that I thought was particularly risky but when Optimus gives you an order you don't have much of a choice. So we landed there at the designated time and just barely......"

Nighthsade stopped listening in at that point and secretly cursed whatever gods might be looking down upon them at the moment. Of all the kinds of bad luck she could have been given she had to be given what was probably the worst of the bunch. She hadn't recognized the old-but-now-younger Autobot without all the battle damage and scarring on him but the second he started telling one of his old war stories she recognized him right away. She was in a way amused that even as young as he was now as he was now he was still telling people the same old stories over and over again. Back during her time with the resistance it was an old joke that whenever Kup tried to tell one of his stories every Autobot in the room would find a reason to leave. It wasn't that they didn't like the old 'bot but when you've heard about the run on Jovian Prime or Delta Niner three or four times it ceases to be amusing and becomes slow torture. The more elder Autobots humored him and sat through the storytelling but the younger ones like her always had to go to the firing range or had to prepare for their next assignment. She was sure she knew about the affect his storytelling was having on the younger generation but it was a useful tool to get lazy new recruits to get back to work. In this case however the storytelling was doing more harm than good and the only thing stopping her from trying to sneak around them was the fact that against a seasoned tracker like Kup it was impossible. There was only one thing she could do that might get them to move out of her way and she grinned when she remembered what she had originally come up with this program for. Bringing up the program and selecting the appropriate file she waited until Kup reached a point where he had to take in some air to continue his story before activating her com-link.

"Jazz to Wheeljack, respond." She said into her com-link but when she listen to Wheeljack's com-link talk it was an almost perfect replication of Commander Jazz's voice.

"Wheeljack here, what's up Jazz?" Wheeljack asked with a bit of hidden relief in his voice.

"We need you back at the launch site, the entire sensor grid just took a nose dive." , Nightshade replied in Jazz's voice, "We need every available bot working on it if we're going to make the launch time."

"Alright I be there as soon as I can, Wheeljack out." , Wheeljack replied as he shut off his com-link, "Sorry Kup but I have to get back to the Ark before Jazz thinks breaks anything else that I'll have to fix later."

"No problem. I have to get back to my patrol anyways." , Kup replied as he checked something on his wrist terminal, "A section of the minefield went offline for a little while a few cycles ago and I have to check the area for intruders."

"Kup there are fusion cannons every eight hundred yards and guards there almost all the time." , Wheeljack said condescendedly, "No Decepticon would have been able to make it through the minefield with only a few nano-clicks to spare."

"Maybe but I'm still gonna check it out." Kup replied and with that transformed into his vehicular mode.

"Suit yourself." Wheeljack replied as he too transformed and with nothing more to be said they both drove off in their respective directions.

Nightshade waited a total of ten cycles before she emerged from her hiding spot behind a pile of debris and walked into the middle of the street. Looking back and forth in the directions that the two Autobots had left in she made sure that they were well out of range before walking over to the entrance to Wheeljack's lab. Examining the security mechanisms on the door she was pleased to find that they were almost exactly as described in the mission files that she were stored in her data tracks. This was a spot of good luck considering how the mission had gone so far but she was careful not to let it go to her head. After all she knew better than most that arrogance was the first step towards defeat and becoming overly confident just because of a few lucky breaks was just as bad. Deploying her interface cables she immediately interfaced with the lab's security system and began to disarm the system one step at a time just like she had been taught to do when dealing with particularly difficult security systems. It was made slightly easier since she had in her possession the original schematics and programming blueprints of the system but it was still a difficult task to complete. After all she was not just breaking into the place, she was also trying to do so while leaving as little evidence of her being there as possible. She had to be so good that not even the big brains like Rachet, Perceptor and Wheeljack would be able to find her cyber-prints in the lab's systems. Add to that the ever present possibility that Wheeljack might for some reason return and it was easy to see why she was so eager to get inside and complete phase two ASAP. It took a bit longer than she would have liked but eventually she got inside and near as she could tell she did so without tripping so much as one alarm or leaving a scrap of evidence that would hint at an unauthorized presence in the lab. After closing and re-locking the door she turned around and for a moment stood agape at the montage of machines and devices in the room.

Look at all this archaic stuff! Nightshade thought to herself as she looked at equipment before her incredulously.

She knew that as far as this time period was concerned this equipment was among the best either side could hope for but for her in was way outdated. The devices they had back in her time period were centuries ahead of anything that was in the room and would complete their given tasks in half the time that these could on their best days. Still she and the other transformers of her timeline lived in different conditions where the difference between victory and defeat could be decided simply by who possessed the most advanced doodads. Therefore while these transformers had the luxury of being able to proceed slowly with their R & D the resistance had to move fast and test many of their prototypes on the battlefield. Banishing such thoughts from her mind she looked about the room for the device that she required in order to proceed with the mission. Despite the clutter that was scattered about the room she was able to find it after a short while and immediately began to bring it online. Slowly but surely the lights on the console next to the isolation cylinder blinked on and a soft hum began to drift through the air as the less obvious systems rose to their normal levels. It would take a few minutes to connect all the necessary equipment to the chamber but she was fairly certain that she would be able to do so within the necessary timeframe. 

It took awhile to find all the tools that she would need as well as the parts given all the clutter that rested in isolated heaps around the lab but once she did find what she needed the work proceeded rather quickly. The required alterations to the isolation chamber were complex but thankfully only a few systems needed to be changed in order for the procedure to work. Add to that the fact that the directions that were flying past her optics were easy to follow and she didn't foresee any significant problems or delays cropping up before she finished. Still she did hit a few minor delays in trying to identify which tool was a tri-polar laser wielder and what point four nine nanocrons meant but she was pretty sure that she had made the right choices. If she had not, well, she would find out pretty soon after initializing the process and feeling her body flow out of phase with the rest of the space-time continuum. After all she was a soldier, not a mechanic, so she couldn't be blamed if she was unable to follow the directions with complete accuracy. Oh she had been taught basic maintenance and some other skills that would prove useful in her day-to-day life as a member of the resistance but anything like this was way over her head and belonged to the real smart 'bots. She dismissed her few concerns and began to enter the appropriate data into the chamber's console, outlining a program that would slowly alter her quantum frequency to match the objects in this time period. This was the only way she would be able to insure that the changes she made to the timeline would be permanent rather than temporary due to the resulting paradox. After all if she altered the future than chances are she would never become who she was, she might never come into existence at all, and then there would be no one to go back in time to fix everything. Still she was on a rather tight schedule so any further thinking concerning the ramifications of the mission and her overall incompetence as an engineer could wait until after she had saved the universe.

There! That should be the last connection. she thought to herself as she secured the large cable to the back-up energon stash that her files had stated Wheeljack had kept to keep his lab running.

Looking at the mishmash of wires, cables and other technical equipment she almost came to believe that it wouldn't work, that all that would happen is that she be vaped in two nano-clicks flat. Despite this opinion of the mess she stepped inside the isolation chamber and sealed the door shut once she was inside. Now that she was in a pressurized environment all that was left was to flip the proverbial switch and hope for the best. Looking over to the button which had activated the intercom she experienced a moment of hesitation since she knew that it was now wired to activate the program she had installed in the chamber's mainframe. This was a big step and for the first time since she had seen Jazz's charred and almost completely scrapped body she was beginning to question whether or not she should go through with the mission. It had all seemed so far away when she was trying to get to this point and there had been enough things to do that she was able to keep her mind off most of it's implications. Now however she was just a step away from separating herself from the time that she knew and being forced to proceed with the mission she had signed on to finish. In a very real way she would become a stranger, alone in a world where no one knew her and where people that had once been her closest friends would not even recognize her. If she did nothing but instead just found some place to hide until she caught up with her time she could see everyone again and with the knowledge of who the traitor was she could save the resistance. Even as she thought this though she knew that she would not choose to do that, she knew what the future held if she didn't go through with this and the fact that it was just as she remembered it meant that she hadn't strayed from the mission. Taking a deep breath Nightshade reached over to the intercom button and pressed it before any more doubts or rationalized solutions sprang into her processor. She now had ten nano-clicks to go into repair mode before the process would begin and according to the file she had been following it had been highly recommended that she not be conscious for what was to come.

"Computer, repair mode." Nightshade stated and within seconds of the speaking those words her world faded to black.

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**_Half a Mega-Cycle Later, Autobot Command Center_**

"The final modifications ta the hyper-drive have been completed Optimus" , Ironhide said to the commander of the Autobot forces, "We should be ready ta leave within five mega-cycles."

For a minute the tall red Autobot said nothing but then as if his attention had suddenly been wrenched back to reality he turned to Ironhide and said "Good we can't afford to waste any time with energon levels as low as they are."

"Is somethin' the matter Prime? Ya've seemed distracted the last day or so." Ironhide asked out of concern for his leader's well being.

"Heh, you know me too well old friend." , Prime replied as he conceded to his comrade's observation, "For the past stellar cycle I've felt a strange presence on Cybertron, a presence that has caused a strange vibration within the matrix."

This was somewhat surprising given that the matrix of leadership was regarded with in an almost holy manner and was seen as the one thing that would forever endure. To discover that something was affecting it enough to cause Prime to become distracted from the mission ahead meant that it had to be serious. The Autobots had been planning this expedition for galactic cycles and it was not regarded as the last hope that they had to hold their ground against the Decepticon advance. Add to this the fact that the timing for this venture was ideal with Decepticon activity at an ebb and there could be no other time for such a mission. Still if Prime was concerned about something that was reason enough to be concerned as well and take it seriously even given the current situation.

"Any idea what it is?" Ironhide asked with curiosity in his voice.

"Unfortunately no, the presence is weak and I have only been able to pick it up a few times before it disappears again." , Prime replied as he shook his head in puzzlement, "Whatever it is though we cannot allow it to distract us from the mission at hand. Ask the engineering crews to give all systems one final review and if everything checks out we'll start the pre-ignition sequence."

Just then the com-unit on Optimus' arm beeped in a peculiar way, indicating perhaps and important call that was trying to get through. Bringing up his arm to the appropriate position she activated his com-unit and waited for the person on the other end to explain what was so important.

"Optimus here." Prime stated with mild curiosity.

"Commander you are needed down in your office, sir." , the voice on the other end said, "I was told to tell you that it is urgent that you come immediately."

That seemed to puzzle Optimus for a moment but after a moment of silent contemplation he seemed to have come to a decision.

"I'll be down in a few moments, Prime out." , Optimus stated before shutting off his com-unit, "Looks like you'll have to supervise things for awhile old friend."

"Don't worry Prime, from here on in everythings pretty much routine." Ironhide replied with a reassuring grin.

With that the red and blue giant that was the leader of the Autobot forces left the room leaving Ironhide to deal with the few last minute preparations that would need to be completed before they could launch. Turning around he walked over to a operations station and began to review the status reports as they came in but he found himself having a bit of difficulty concentrating on the words in front of him. He knew that he was just trying to reassure Prime that everything was going to be alright but at the same time he too was beginning to feel a bit on edge. This was a massive undertaking they were attempting to perform and because of that everyone had expected something to go wrong long before now but had thanked Primus when nothing happened. Still it would be just the kind of luck they seemed to be getting lately if something did go wrong just mega-cycles before launch and perhaps force them to scrub the mission. Despite the nagging feeling he was hopeful that they would be able to deal with the problem quickly and quietly before they launched or all their hard work would be for nothing.

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**_Half a Mega-Cycle Later, Wheeljack's Lab_**

Ohhhh, man do I feel funky! Nightshade thought to herself as she stepped out of the isolation chamber with one hand on the door frame to steady herself.

She had woken up only a few minutes ago and had immediately considered killing the person who had come up with this procedure but became disappointed when she remembered that he had been erased from existence. Bringing her diagnostic systems online she did a quick review of her systems and found that despite a few areas working at minimally acceptable levels everything was up and running. According to the file that detailed the procedure the effects would only last three mega-cycles and that it was recommended that she wait until the effects had passed before proceeding with the mission. Unfortunately that was not something she could afford to do with all the time she wasted being repaired at Femme Fatale HQ and the subsequent interrogation by Elita-1. Thus with little more than a shake of the head to clear the cobwebs she walked to the door of the lab and mimicked the process she used to get past the security measures the first time around. It wasn't as easy though with most of her systems working just barely within acceptable parameters but she was fairly confident that she hadn't made any mistakes or left a trail for someone to follow. Once outside she did a quick check of the immediate area, looking for any witnesses to her presence, before transforming into her cybertronian alternate form and heading for the launch pad where the Ark was being completed.

Keeping to the alternate route that she had come up with upon her arrival in Iacon she began to review the means by which she would sneak into the Ark without being seen. It wouldn't be easy but according to the mission profile there was a scheduled time about two mega-cycles before launch when the last of the engineers and other workers would leave their posts for a quick energon meal. There would still of course be a guard detail around the perimeter and sensors placed at strategic points throughout the compound but it was the most ideal time to make the insertion. Once past the perimeter security she would have to make it across open ground the base of the craft and enter through a maintenance hatch near one of the main thrusters. That would lead her to a storage bay where she could locate an empty crate and hide inside. According to the mission logs and reports that were written down afterward no one went anywhere near that area until they regained consciousness after the crash. She just hoped that this wasn't another little mistake that the top brass back in her timeline had made to make the mission more interesting. From here on in she wanted things to go as smooth as polished silver and as quickly as Blurr could finish a single sentence but doubted that she could ever be that lucky. No, more than likely she would have to talk her way past a few 'bots and maybe knock a few unconscious before things would finally calm down enough for her to let her guard even halfway down. Still there was always the possibility that things would go well and she wouldn't have to revise the mission profile any more than she already had. One thing though that she could not even consider doing would be to permanently harm any Autobot that became more than a casual nuisance. She had no idea what importance each of them might have at present nor what importance they might have in the future but she was not about to tempt fate by blasting an arm off.

Within a two mega-cycles she arrived at an alley across from the compound and immediately transformed into her warrior mode before crouching down behind a scrap metal container. Raising her optics just above the top of the container she examined her target and looked for any signs against or in favor of the profile's recommended method of entry. According to her internal chronometer she had a few cycles before the guards would change and she would have her window of entry into the complex. She didn't recognize the two 'bots that were on guard but that probably just meant that they had been slagged before the 'awakening' and were not very worthy of note. Turning her gaze to the wall that they were standing in front of she began to do visual and passive sensor scans to determine what kind of security systems she would have to deal with. As her scan progressed in seemed to be just your rudimentary motion and energy sensors tied into the main security grid with a few automated laser emplacements just in case. To her it seemed as though a great deal would change in the next four million years and apparently the level of security was definitely one of them. It didn't seem as though they took security all that seriously around here or if they did they relied more on the soldiers than the equipment. Not an entirely foolish way of looking at things but it was rather risky with an enemy as ruthless as the Decepticons waiting to turn everyone into slag. When this mission was over with she was going to have to leave them a few helpful suggestions on how to improve the tightness of their security.

The cycles seemed to take forever to tick by but eventually she saw the guards giving the area one last look before they began to gather their things. Getting ready to sprint across the street she watched the two guards with extraordinary focus, waiting for them to move into just the right position. She had to time this just right or she would blow everything and would have to feed these guys a second serving of slag today. The two unknown bots seemed to be moving in slow motion as she watched them head into the small door built into the large metal gate. Her body was tense with every circuit and servo almost humming with pent up energy as she waited for her moment to arrive. When the last Autobot finally moved into the correct position she shot across the street at the maximum speed for her robot mode and when she came within seventy yards of the wall leapt up and over without making a sound. Not taking a moment to take satisfaction on her success she ducked behind some crates that were stacked along the wall and scanned the area to see if anyone had detected her. From her audio receivers she listened in on the conversation that the two guards were having as they headed towards the main complex and apparently they had heard nothing out of the ordinary. As for the information her visual scanners had gathered so far it seemed that she had tripped no alarms either since she could see no discernible difference in the behavior or pace of the other transformers scattered around the base. 

So far so good Nightshade ol' gal! , she thought to herself as she maintained her alert status despite the lack of detection, Now if you can just get to the Ark and jump inside without getting spotted you might just be able to pull this little mission off.

Looking at her chronometer built into her right wrist she discerned that she had roughly another five minutes before the immediate area would be clear enough of engineers for her to make an attempt at the Ark. It would be a pain to have to wait thirty cycles for the engineers to leave on their lunch break but the last thing she could afford would be to be spotted with her objective within arm's reach. Withdrawing into the shadows that her hiding place provided she decided to run a few more diagnostics on her primary systems as well as review what she would have to do after the crash. According to the mission file she would be unable to avoid going into emergency stasis with the others when they first crashed but thankfully due to the stasis inhibitor she would wake up five mega-cycles before the boss-bots believed Optimus would be assassinated. That would give her just enough time for her to set up a few surprises for the ambitious 'Con as well as get teletron-1 up and running so she could bring some of the heavy artillery into play. Once that was done she would be ready to blast the creator of her nightmarish world into so much molten slag and hopefully secure a more pleasant future for everyone. She of course wouldn't stay online the entire four million years between the crash and the 'great awakening' but thanks to teletron-1 she wouldn't have to be awake all that time. Once she got the big computer up and running she could just program it to wake her anytime anything of sufficient technological advancement got close to the Ark and was judged a threat. The rest of the time she would just be offline in some out of the way part of the ship until she was needed.

That still leaves the question of what will happen to me once all the other transformers come out of emergency stasis. Nightshade thought to herself and for a moment she felt profoundly alone.

Fortunately a change in Autobot activity around the Ark caught her attention and allowed her to push that disturbing thought deep into the dark corners of her spark. Looking up she was slightly puzzled to see that the engineers were apparently leaving their assigned posts and heading towards the main complex. Glancing at her chronometer her concern grew when it showed that they should have been working for an additional fifteen cycles before leaving for their break. For a moment she feared that she had been somehow detected and that the second the last of the engineers were gone she would be apprehended. Scanning immediate area as closely as she could without giving herself away on purpose she found no change in the compound's alert status and the guards at the front gate were still chatting casually as though nothing had happened. Despite the lack of evidence Nightshade was still concerned about this sudden deviation from established history and wondered what had gone wrong. Reviewing the mission files one more time she tried to find some reason for the discrepancy and soon found one possible answer. According to the mission files the engineers were only *scheduled* to break for their energon fifteen cycles from now and this information was acquired from official records of the time. She knew all too well that only the most disciplined of transformers ever adhered strictly enough to official duty rosters and then there was the possibility that the engineers had finished early which was certainly plausible enough to be true. Still a bit concerned about the change Nightshade decided to proceed with the mission and hope that her concern wasn't well founded.

Taking one more visual scan across compound she began to stealthily make her way across the open area towards the Ark, trying to make it look as though she belonged there. She had considered simply running across but that would have attracted to much attention should any cursed Autobot happen to look out a window at an inopportune time. The slow pace and the constant alertness were almost intolerable as she proceeded towards the Ark but she forced herself to remain in control and to give no outward sign that she was under pressure. One of the first things she had learned when she had started out with the resistance was to control her outward appearance completely no matter what situation she was in. It was a useful ability when on some of her more covert missions and it helped maintain the image of a cool headed warrior in the minds of her comrades. It was better that they thought of her that way rather than see what lay within the metal frame that was her transformer body because if they did all their respect for her would vanish. Forcing her mind in another direction she looked up to see what progress she had made towards reaching the Ark without being noticed by the Autobots. She was more than three quarters of the way there and would probably reach the base of the launching platform in five cycles at her current pace. She allowed herself a small grin of satisfaction as she drew closer and closer to her destination and thought that despite the few drawbacks that the mission had suffered since she had arrived here it had gone reasonably well.

Now if I can just get inside the Ark and find a place to hide until it crashes then everything will be just perfect. Nightshade thought to herself as she continued taking steps towards the Ark.

Just then she heard the all too familiar sound of a blaster being charged and unfortunately unless her audio receivers were malfunctioning it was coming from behind her. Stopping her in her tracks she knew that she had a split second to make a decision before the choice would be made for her and right now the possibilities were not encouraging. For the most part she had two options, she could attempt to render this Autobot unconscious and then stash him somewhere where he wouldn't be found until after the launch or try to come up with some farfetched story that would be believed. Neither seemed very encouraging since in all likelihood both would end up with the alarms being raised and about a half dozen bots with blasters coming after her but they were the only two courses of action that she thought stood a chance of succeeding. Considering both for a brief moment she turned around casually to look at the bot who had so perfectly screwed up her mission. She was somewhat surprised to find a yellow Autobot standing behind her who was not much taller than she was pointing a blaster at her. It took her only a moment to discover who he was once she scrolled through the various files about the Autobots involved with the Ark project.

"Hey Bumblebee! What's processing?" Nightshade asked in such a manner as she would an old comrade.

This seemed to take the young Autobot completely off guard but to his credit he didn't let his aim waver and asked "Who are you?"

Deciding that truth would work better than lies she replied "The name is Nightshade Autobud. Now that we have the introductions out of the way how about you point that blaster someplace else, might make a femme feel like she's unwanted."

Putting a little charm into her movements she tried to move like she'd seen Angelfire do with some of the other male Autobots back at HQ when she wanted to flirt with them. Of course all the guy 'bot's at the base knew that she was only kidding and wasn't serious about her intentions but more than a few bots had been reduced to stuttering messes by the time she was done. Hopefully those same tactics would confuse and fluster Bumblebee enough that she could get closer and put the finishing touches on this little maneuver. As she slowly advanced on his position she could tell that her initial mental blow was working like a charm but she would need to deliver another before she could do what she needed to do in order to proceed. Raising up her right hand she slowly began to stroke the bottom of his jaw with her fingers and looked at him in one of the steamiest ways she had seen Angelfire employ ever. This was definitely having the desired effect on the young Autobot who obviously didn't have a lot of experience with members of the fairer model of transformer. Already the blaster was beginning to falter and his gaze never left her faceplate the entire time she was proceeding towards him.

Now for the crowning touch. she thought to herself with only a little bit of guilt at what she was about to do to the unsuspecting 'bot.

"You know something, you're kinda cute." , Nightshade stated in a sultry voice, "Maybe we should go somewhere and talk some more, what do you say?"

Leaning over like she was about to kiss him she deftly reached around behind him with her right arm and before he knew what was happening she attached a slave module on top of the spot where his primary motor functions were routed to in his back. It was something that the science bots had come up with to counter the advantage that the cerebro shells gave the Decepticon Bombshell in battle. With just one of those little capsules the Insecticon leader had managed to lead more than a few platoons of resistance warriors to their deaths. It had become even more serious when the Decepticons had found a way to adapt them so that they worked on humans as well as transformers. With humans enslaved as well there was little concern among the Decpticons about mass rebellion since those implanted had no more will than an animal. Add to that the fact that it was extremely difficult to remove one without doing significant damage to the human brain and it was easy to understand why most were just put out of their misery. It had been with great reluctance that the Autobots had developed their own version of the cerebro shells but in the end they had proved a great help in the many battles against the Decepticon army. 

Returning her attention to the present she looked around for a place to stash him and smiled when she spotted what looked like a storage shed only a little ways away from the launch pad. This worked in her favor since there would be less chance that anyone would notice the small Autobot's jerky movements and those that did might simply dismiss them as the result of her femme wiles. Making all the appropriate gestures and teases she brought him over to the shed and lured him inside apparently without drawing too much attention to herself. Once inside she opened up his chest plate and disabled his primary servo motivators from the inside causing him to slump to the floor. Laying him carefully across some boxes she placed the parts she had removed on a nearby work bench so that when he was discovered they wouldn't have any problem getting him back online. She would have to wait a few cycles before she could leave the storage shed without attracting attention to herself but from her experience back at resistance cell Phoenix things of this nature didn't take long. She wasn't exactly clue less about what went on between transformers between closed doors but she had never had the time or the inclination to investigate the matter further. She was always on a mission or busy with other duties around the base and that left little time for casual research on such touchy topics. She had caught happened upon an incident between Angelfire and one of the Autobots but all she had gleaned from that incident was that was that her sister was loud, rough and could do it in ten cycles. After that her sister had simply exited the storage closet, made sure all her accessible compartments were securely fastened and then proceeded to where ever she had to be at that point in time. Of the two of them Angelfire was definitely the more daring in matters of a non-combative nature which made them a perfect match since she was the most daring in combat situations. Just then she caught the mistake in tenses she had made and immediately felt a stab of pain in her spark as the ramifications of her mission once more came into her mind. 

Angelfire had been created along with her in response to the need for more transformers in the resistance but if she succeeded in saving Optimus Prime then the future might turn out completely different. In the new future she would create there might be no need for new transformers, at least none of her type, and thus Angelfire would never be constructed. Oh she could probably convince Ratchet or Wheeljack at some later point in time after the awakening to construct a perfect replica of her but the part that counted, the spark, wouldn't be there at all. With that thought she almost let out a sob of grief but held it in spite of how much she wanted to release the emotions she kept inside of her. The others had sacrificed their lives so that she would succeed in carrying out their mission and she would not permit herself to jeopardize the future just because of something as trivial and transitory as pain or grief. Locking her feelings away in some lost corner she checked her chronometer and found that while she had been pondering her emotions almost twelve cycles has passed since she had entered the storage shed with Bumblebee. Preparing for her exit she undid a few of her access ports and clamps for her armor plating while mentally trying to mimic the look her sister had used at the end of her encounter. Once she was satisfied that she was ready she stepped outside of the shed and looking flustered and a bit tipsy she refastened everything and calmly walked away. Taking a calm glance around the immediate area she could tell that her plan seemed to be working, any transformers that were in a position to see her had apparently fallen for her deception and were joking about their friend's luck. 

Unfortunately for you motor heads the joke is on you this time. Nightshade thought to herself as she proceeded towards her original destination.

Hopefully she would be able to make it the rest of the way there without further interruption because aside from that one tactic she had no idea how she'd deal with another obstacle short of blasting them and running for dear life. For what seemed like the fiftieth time in as many cycles she cursed the top 'bots back in her time for not doing more extensive planning, for forcing her to make things up as she went along. She was a fighter not a planner, her job was to blow things up and steal things right from underneath the Decepticon's noses and while that did require some creative thinking it was never as complex as this was turning out to be for her. Deciding that berating transformers who would soon never exist was a waste of time she looked ahead and grinned in satisfaction as she was only ten steps from her point of entry. Unfortunately her grin soon turned to a frown as she came to think that if the universe was planning any nasty surprises for her it would happen in the next few cycles. After all wouldn't it be the ultimate cosmic joke on her to be thwarted right on the verge of completing her mission? She privately hoped that the universe would buzz off and find some other hopeless schmuck to torment, preferably a certain bucket-headed Decepticon. However given how this mission had been going so far it was unlikely that Primus would be cutting her any breaks anytime soon so she would have to rely on her own skill and winning charm.

It didn't take much to circumvent the locking mechanism on the hatch and within a few nano-clicks she was crawling through the maintenance tunnels towards her destination. It was not fun by any stretch of the word, more like a pain in the skidplate with all of the cables and wires she had to avoid or squeeze by without incident. Seeing all the junk that was crowded around here she was glad that her mission didn't include sabotage of some kind because she would be clue less as to what to cut or which device to smash. Technology had never been her strong suit as it was often long and boring which caused her mind to wander into some rather unpleasant thoughts and discussions that she would rather avoid outright. No she was much happier causing mass destruction and confusion among the Decepticon army then rewiring their mainframes to crash at the flip of a switch. After all that was what she did best and she had to admit that in some bizarre and twisted way she actually enjoyed her work and the mess she made by the time she was done. Some might say that such feelings made her no better than the Decepticons but she didn't really care. The pain and sorrow she had experienced during her time with the resistance had caused her to cease to care about such things as maintaining the moral high ground. Against the 'Cons she would use and do anything to send them straight to the Inferno and if someone had a problem with that then too bad for them. Carefully moving her foot over some power cords Nightshade looked ahead and saw the access hatch to the cargo bay where she would hide for the duration of the mission. Feeling a sense of accomplishment in getting this far Nightshade casually opened the access hatch and crawled through into the cargo bay.

"That's far enough lass." a voice said as she heard four distinct whines which were undoubtably coming from four distinct blasters.

Looking up into the barrels of Kup, Bluestreak, Prowl and Ultra Magnus there was only one thing Nightshade could think to say in return "Oh slag!"

This brought smiles to their faces as they no doubt assumed that this was a declaration of her defeat and their easy victory but they couldn't be farther from the truth. While they were so busy patting themselves on the backs she jumped into action by pulling four vibro-blades from subspece and directly into the palm of her hands. With a motion that was almost a blur she threw the blades at the gun hands of all four Autobots forcing them to drop them to the ground as they howled in pain. Not waiting for them to refocus on her with the intention of kicking her skidplate all over the cargo bay she decided to attack first. Charging them head-on she first delivered a flying side-kick to Kup's face and then using his head as a push off point did a reverse spin-kick which managed to knock another one to the floor. With only two left to deal with before she could stop and think about how she would be able to accomplish her mission despite this screw-up. Grabbing Kup's blaster off the floor she adjusted the dial to a lower setting and blasted Brawn in the chest sending him staggering backwards into a pile of containers. That left only her and a very large Ultra Magnus standing in the room and he by far was the biggest challenge of the four she had been forced to deal with. He had since recovered from the vibro-blade but surprisingly instead of going for his blaster he was turning towards her as if he wanted to take her on hand-to-hand instead. This was somewhat strange because for the most part the Transformer race only knew the most basic hand-to-hand combat skills and thus relied on their blaster weaponry instead. There were a few who opted to learn more about how to defend themselves without convenient weapons at hand but most of them felt more comfortable with a blaster in their hands. However Ultra Magnus' choice suited her just fine since she had been among the best hand-to-hand fighters in her resistance cell and had only ever lost once.

Deciding to be charitable Nightshade decided to let Ultra Magnus make the first move so she could get a feel for where he ranked in terms of fighting skills. His first attack was a straight punch to the face which she dodged easily and countered with four quick jabs to the face before backing off a little. His punch wasn't that bad and it would have clobbered your average Decepticon but it was a touch too slow to connect with someone of her speed. His next move was an attempt to grab her with both arms but she saw that coming and ducked underneath his arms while delivering a hard blow to his mid-section. The air rushed out of his mouth as he staggered backwards while his intake sub-routines reinitialized themselves and it was then that she decided it was time to end this little game. She was losing time and whoever had sent these four here would undoubtabley be waiting for a report soon on their situation. She could use her voice synthesizer to fool the person on the other end but only if she was able to deliver the report before that person got suspicious of the delay. Looking around for something to use she spotted a container that supposedly contained trilodium panels and from the size of the container there had to be a lot. With a half-grin on her face she primed her servo-motors and with all the strength she possessed lifted the container over her head and threw it right at Ultra-Magnus' head. He must have seen it coming because he began to dodge it causing it only to hit the side of his head instead of it hitting him right in the face. Fortunately that was enough to stun him and give her the opportunity to follow up with her initial attack before he could regain his senses. Charging forward she brought back her right arm and with strength that was almost more than her servos could provide she gave him a right hook right to the jaw. This sent him flat on his back with a crash and for the next few moments she waited with her guard ready for any sign that he was going to get back up. It seemed for a moment that he was going to do just that as he tried to sit up but about halfway there he fell back to the floor and remained still.

Ow! That Autobot has a harder jaw than Grimlock's! Nightshade thought to herself as she massaged her metal knuckles.

Removing the pain from her mind she reached down and activated his com-link and connected to the last person whom he had had contact with. Presumably this would be the person whom he was supposed to report into once they had apprehended her. At the same time she went through her files of voice patterns and immediately activated the one for Ultra-Magnus hoping that she could do a fairly good impersonation.

"Optimus here, what's the situation on that intruder Magnus?" spoke the deep voice-of-God voice in what she guessed was a mildly interested tone.

She almost freaked when she heard who it was but replied "She put up a little struggle but we managed to subdue her without much trouble. I'll be taking her back to base for interrogation so we can find out why she was here and who gave her the orders."

She hoped that she had made the right call in saying that Ultra Magnus would be taking the prisoner back to base instead of straight to Optimus. According to accepted procedure it was unnecessary for every matter to be brought before the commander of the entire faction's forces but she had no idea whether this was a special case or not. She could only hope that Prime would let it go so she could start with the problem of stashing these Autobots inside cargo containers along with herself. Unfortunately with the way her luck was running she would wind up having to dodge every Autobot on this ship for the next megacycle before she could safely let down her guard. 

"Bring her up to the command deck first." , Optimus ordered in a sort of fatherly way, "I would like to have a few words with her first."

"Are you sure it's wise to give a possible spy such an irresistible opportunity this close to launch?" she asked in the hopes that the urgency of the launch would be enough to get him to reconsider.

"I'm sure we can handle one femme Ultra Magnus." , Optimus stated with an odd tone in his voice, "Unless of course you're unable to do so yourself."

He KNOWS! Nightshade thought to herself as she dropped the arm that Ultra Magnus' com-link was on and stood straight up.

She wasn't sure how he knew but she had heard Jazz speak in a similar tone of voice when he knew she was hiding something big and she doubted it was a coincidence that Prime was talking in the same way. Almost on the verge of panic she drew her twin particle blasters from subspace and prepared to make her way to another part of the ship. She had the ship's schematics on file so she should be able to find a suitable hiding spot for herself until the search teams gave up. The one thing that concerned her greatly was the way that these delays seemed to happen one after another in a weird kind of order. First with Bumblebee and the next with these four warriors who know that she had a chance to look at them were perfect examples of the four types of builds common to the Autobots. It was as if she was being tested but that would be impossible unless they knew that she had been coming and had prepared these surprise quiz in advance. That shouldn't be possible since she was fairly sure that she hadn't tripped any alarms or attracted any unwanted attention since she had entered the city. Shaking her head and reinforcing her focus she kept her mind on what she had to do and where she had to go in order to succeed in her mission. Opening the door she peeked out into the hallway and once she was sure that it was clear of any obstacles she began to stealthily make her way to emergency escape shuttle. With a little luck she could sneak into that craft and stay there for the duration of the trip without being spotted by the crew. According to the mission files on that area it was rarely inspected beyond basic maintenance so it was the next best hiding place for her next to the cargo bay.

It took her about five cycles to get there but when she did she was happy to see that there were no guards outside the room where the shuttle was kept and there had been no alarms sounded since she had left the cargo bay. For all intents and purposes she was free and clear but despite that she could not rid herself of the odd sensation in her mind that was telling her not to go through those doors in front of her. There wasn't exactly an obvious reason not to got since all seemed to be alright and there were no signs that anything was wrong. Despite that it was as if many tiny little voices inside her head were saying to find another place to hide before it was too late to get away. Then it hit her, just like it had outside Wheeljack's lab, the whole area within the range of her seemed to light up with life and the blue optics that she had seen before had returned as well. Now though they were coming from the shuttle bay and their close proximity to her unnerved her even more than before. They hadn't turned towards her yet but she was sure that it was only a matter of time before they did and she would be forced to make a decision. Instead of waiting for it to happen she decided it was high time to take the mechanical bull by the horns and deal with this problem before it became a liability. She was fairly certain at this point that the things she was seeing were simply the afteraffects of her near termination experience out in no 'bots land. She had heard of it before from transformers who had seen other Autobots crack under the pressure of the fight against the Decepticon empire. They had simply lost hope and had come too close to going offline permanently to deal with the strain of the constant warfare. SHE however would not go out like that and just to prove that she still had what it took she was going to walk over to the shuttle bay and step inside. Straightening herself up she walked over to the entrance to the shuttle bay and pressed the button to open the large doors. Standing there while the computer verified her forged authorization code she was supremely confident that she had diagnosed herself accurately. Once she stepped inside this room and found nothing but the shuttle and a few consoles the weird visions would disappear and she could finally get her mind back on the task at hand. The button she had pressed turned green and with a slight whir the doors began to slide open to reveal the contents of the room within. What she found inside though was enough to believe that the God Primus had to hate her circuits to cause her this much trouble. After all how else could you explain the fact that she was staring down the barrel of a very large blaster rifle that was held by a very large Optimus Prime.

Seeing this she decided to do the only thing she could do, take a course of action that was practical, strategically sound and one she was sure that Jazz would approve of if he had survived the explosion.

"I surrender." Nightshade said as she raised her arms above her head.


	8. The Beginning of One Wild Ride!

Well this is the last part of the first chapter of my Transformers/Gargoyles crossover. I have the next one in the works but I am wondering if I should even go through with it. I have periodically checked my section at fanfiction.net and this story has only gotten three reviews in total. While it is possible that there are more who like but just didnÕt want to bother reviewing it I need to be sure of that before continuing my work. So if you like this story and want to see the next installment please review like crazy when you finish reading this. Thanks!!

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


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